Fourth Wall, Book 2: The Four Seasons
by Crazyeight
Summary: Sequel to Wages of Fans. In the middle of moving on with their lives, the characters of Digimon are captured and forced to relive their seasons. As changes are made to their lives, they must find a way to escape this madness before their reality is lost..
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Well, I've had this idea burning a hole in my head, so I figured that I might as well start getting it out there. And to all you first time readers, this story is a sequel to my fic, _The Wages of Fans is Fiction_, so if you want to have an idea as to what the heck is going on you may want to check that one out. If you already have, by all means read on! Anyway, I dedicate this fic to all those who read and reviewed _Wages_. Thanx you guys. Now, on with the fic!

Disclaimer: As stated in previous fics, and in accordance to the rules of this site, I do not own Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Prologue

Data floated around the Domain Tower as the lights of the combined attacks of the authors finally ended. It hovered for a few seconds before finally rising into the air and disappearing from view, joining the other shards of data that had been the casualties of the latest war.

_"Are you sure about this?"_ Asked a voice from the shadows as the shards of data began to slowly whirl together like the beginnings of some great hurricane or tornado.

_"Of course I'm sure,"_ replied another voice from out of the darkness of cybernetic oblivion. _"When will we have a more perfect opportunity? Thanks to the Lord of Fantasy we have all that we need to achieve our goals."_

_"But the others…" _spoke up a third voice, but it was quickly interrupted by the second.

_"But nothing! They know nothing about our plans. The Lord of Fantasy was a fool to go in as directly as he did. Still, he did inadvertently provide us with something useful."_

The data swirled faster as it began to coalesce and take shape. The scene shifts back to the victorious forces of the Domain Tower as a great cheer erupted from the gathered authors and characters, both Canon and Original alike while the sun rose above the scarred and barren land like a promise of hope for the future.

_"Let them celebrate their meaningless victory for now,"_ said the second voice again. _The fun is only just beginning…"_

The sun continued to rise, oblivious or perhaps uncaring to the plans that were even now being set in motion, perhaps because despite whatever happened it would survive and continue its journey as it always had 'till the end of time. Its glow touched the land softly like a mother's smile, illuminating everything as it always had, as it always would.

_"The fun is only just beginning…"_

That's it for now (a little short, I know). Let me know what you guys think! Don't know when I'll be able to get back to this. Kind of depends on just how bored I am, how low my work load is, and how long it takes for me to get through the rest of Frontier (again, thank God for YouTube!). Later all! -Crazyeight

2


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: As many of you are aware, I do not own Digimon, nor do I own 'The Anthem' by Good Charlotte

The Four Seasons: Chapter 1

First Arc

The fork dug into the steaming pile of macaroni, skewering a heaping helping of the pasta and the arm that held the utensil brought it up into the mouth of a blonde haired boy wearing a black and blue hoody shirt. As he chewed, the sounds of the other children around him talked noisily about anything and everything. He caught snippets of the conversations but didn't really pay any attention to them; his attention focused more on the tray of food before him and his studies.

_It's a new day, but it all feels old_

_It's a good life, that's what I'm told_

_But everything, it just all feels the same_

The boy, whose name was Chris, sighed inwardly. It had been at least three weeks since the whole incident concerning what had come to be called amongst the FanFic Domain's contemporaries as _The War of Fables_ (also known by other popular titles as the _FanFic Affair_, _When the Tower Fell, _and _Fable's Tower_) and things had more or less settled back to normal. Well, not exactly. All across the board authors were having trouble uploading any stories and it was expected that this would go on for a while. As a result Chris, like so many other characters, not just OC's but Canons too, were feeling a bit restless. Interestingly this led to some characters actually going as far as to go and create their own stories just to stay in practice. While this 'let's play pretend' phenomenon did much to blow off some steam there was still the average life of a character to live. Keeping up appearances mostly you could say; watching TV, reading a good book, hanging out with friends, parents, studying scripts…

_And my high school, it felt more to me_

_Like a jail cell, a penitentiary_

Yes… going to school too. Can you believe it? How strange it seemed to Chris that even though he and those around him weren't considered 'real', they had to keep up the appearance of being real while the authors were away actually living real lives. Well, that was life he supposed. Not much to it. If nothing else it gave him something to do in his 'off' time while the computers that had him and his friends on stage were off and the keyboards were inactive. Still, it was a strange existence. His friend Ryan had once asked what the point to it all was but didn't get an answer that really satisfied him. Oh well, between the two of them Chris wasn't the one who complained about his lot. Nowadays though, Ryan hadn't been as cranky about life. Chris supposed that having died and being brought back to life had something to do with it.

_My time spent there, it only made me see_

_That I don't ever wanna be like you_

_I don't wanna do the things you do_

_I'm never gonna hear the words you say_

_And I don't ever wanna, I don't ever wanna be_

_You… don't wanna be just like you_

_Oh what I'm sayin' is this is the anthem, throw all your hands up,_

_You…don't wanna be you_

_Go to college, or university, get a real job,_

_That's what they said to me_

_But I could never live the way they want_

_I'm gonna get by, and just do my time, out of step while, they all_

_Get in line_

_I'm just a minor threat so pay no mind_

_Do you really wanna be like them, do you really wanna be another trend? _

_Do you wanna be part of their drill_

'_Cause I don't ever wanna, I don't ever wanna be_

_God, I really wish that song would just… **shut up!**_

And just like that, the song did. Chris sat up and blinked a few times before looking around. None of the other characters seemed to even take notice. But then, they hadn't noticed that the song had even been playing in the first place. Not surprising. Most of the characters around him were the faceless, and that meant that they didn't really have much of a role other than being in the background. That of course didn't mean that they were stupid or even unobservant (even though it certainly seemed like it when kids like him could pass off creatures like digimon as stuffed animals and not have anyone question it), it just meant that they were filling their roles perfectly. Besides, it also had the added bonus of Chris not being swamped by any amorous fans. He liked having something akin to a normal life, even if it wasn't real.

A tray was plopped down in front of him, making the blonde haired boy jump slightly as the chair that sat behind the lunch tray was pulled back and quickly claimed by a blonde haired girl with sea-green eyes and a face that seemed to be calm serenity. Chris groaned. The person sitting at his table was an OC like him, only of a lower grade known as a secondary character. Why she was important at all to their author's world was beyond him, but she existed nonetheless, and it seemed to consist of nothing more than annoying both him and Ryan.

"What do you want Ashley?"

The girl looked at him with an annoyed _why the heck are you even asking such a question? _Look on her face, and it immediately reminded Chris of something else that he disliked about the girl. She tended to be fairly Mary-Sue-ish, and usually came with all the accessories including her own little troop of _henchgirls_ who, for some odd reason, were absent today.

"What ever do you mean?" Asked Ashley innocently.

"Oh, c'mone Ashley. You never hang out with me. Heck, you barely even speak to me unless it's in a condescending voice and also involves a little bit of heckling and/or shoving me in a locker."

The girl giggled. "Oh that. Can't you take a joke?"

"Usually when I laugh in the end, which with you I don't recall being a part of the equation. I still haven't forgiven you for that time you dumped a tray of cafeteria food down my pants."

The girl known as Ashley began to laugh a little heartily. "Oh, you! I remember that one. Of course you did get me back for that…"

"Can we cut to the chase already, Ashley? I'm kind of in the middle of studying my lines here."

Ashley fixed the blonde haired boy with a glare. "You Main's. You think that just because you're in the lead cast of a story that it gives you the right to be high and mighty over others."

"Give me a break, Ash! You still treat me like dirt half the time and you still pull pranks on both me _and_ Ryan! What do you want? You've got just about everything! Popularity, looks, tons of friends," _if you can call them friends,_ Chris thought. "You've even got our own school wound about your finger…"

"But I have no PART!" The blonde haired girl shouted at him. Chris unconsciously backed away from her with his eyes wide from surprise. Ashley glared at Chris for a bit before looking away almost shamefully.

"It's just… I've always wanted to be part of the crowd. I mean _really _part of the crowd, and not with those simpering twits that our author has paired me with. I want to matter in our story, but so far all I seem to be is a stupid Mary Sue character. I don't want to be like that. I was hoping that… maybe you could put in a good word for me?"

Chris could probably think of any number of reasons why he shouldn't do anything for this girl who had tormented both him and Ryan from the first day they met, but as he stared into her eyes he felt pity for the poor girl. All she wanted was to feel like she was needed for something and she didn't have that. But then, what kind of role could she have? There wasn't a whole lot that she could do in the fic but… well; maybe he should have a talk to the author anyway. Maybe see about getting her transferred or something like that. Somewhere where she could at least get what she wanted. No easy task seeing as how authors sometimes guarded their characters jealously but…

Suddenly over the loudspeaker, a voice called out.

"WILL THE CHARACTER STUDENTS RYAN AND CHRIS PLEASE REPORT TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE IMMEDIATELY!"

Chris sighed and looked at his tray. "Looks like I gotta go," he said looking back at Ashley, who had a sad look on her face. "Look, I'll see what I can do for you, alright?"

That alone made the girl squeal with joy and Chris just barely dodged being hugged by her as he took up his tray and tossed the food out. As he headed towards the exit, a familiar song started playing again.

_You… don't wanna be just like you_

_Oh what I'm sayin' is this is the anthem throw all your hands up,_

_You, don't wanna be you_

Chris sighed. Long day just got even longer.

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In the world that those of us of the writing persuasion call 'reality' (if it can at all be called that), a fourteen-year-old girl named Sarah sat on the school bus anxiously as they sat outside the house waiting. After a few minutes of no one coming out, the bus closed its doors with a hiss and Sarah slumped in her seat with a sigh. Three weeks and still Mark hadn't shown up for school, and she was getting worried. Okay, she knew about what had happened on the net during the final battle between Mark's Avatar, the Lord of Fantasy, and the assembled forces of the Digimon Branch of the FanFic Domain. She herself didn't participate in it because despite everything that Mark had done, she still considered him her friend. She hadn't expected him to do what he had done, creating the vicious and powerful program known as D-Leter to destroy the FanFic Domain because he couldn't get what he wanted. And now his account has been suspended, and just like that the self-proclaimed _Lord of Fantasy_ had vanished off the face of the earth and from every single discussion board that contained a mention of 'Digimon'. Well, it had been expected that he should have a self-imposed exile in the real world as well but for so long? It wasn't right. She had tried calling his phone, but he never answered, and when she found time she got her parents to drive her or she rode her bike over to his house to check up on him, but always, for three weeks straight, Mark's mother would turn her away and say, "He's not feeling well", and shut the door with a cold shoulder and an angry slam.

Just what was that all about?

She had tried getting in touch with the author's Dean and Digital-Dragon-Master, as Dean had been at the center of the whole ordeal and Digital-Dragon-Master had been the last author to see him, or rather his Avatar form alive, but it was proving notoriously hard to contact them. Digital-Dragon-Master was a bit busy trying to repair the FanFic Domain of course as that was part of her duties (as it was a part of _all_ author's duties, Sarah's included) but Dean seemed to have dropped off the map as well. Where'd he go? And what was he up to?

Sarah felt that she would have to do some deep digging in order to find the answer to that question. Maybe she should visit his account later on once school was over, talk to whatever characters were there and leave him a message. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. It was a place to start. And maybe she should try and find the OC Reno too, since he had been in the author's employ during the crisis. Well, she'd deal with that later, but for now, first thing's first.

School. Sarah groaned. She had a test in trigonometry today.

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Chris walked into the Principal's office to find that his friend Ryan had already beaten him to it, and was currently talking to someone on the phone. No doubt it was their author phoning them again to tell them that another writing session had to be cancelled due to more site malfunctions thanks to the 'War of Fables'. Whatever the case was, Ryan obviously wasn't happy with whoever was on the other line because the first thing that Chris heard when got into the office was…

"No," Ryan told the voice on the other line firmly. "I won't do it." There was a pause on his end during which Chris raised an eyebrow at the principal who just motioned for him to take a chair next to his friend while he delegated. The voice on the phone sounded like… yes. It was their author, and he was rattling on about something, and no doubt whatever it was it made Ryan again say…

"No. I don't care what you say, I'm still not doin' it. That girl is a natural disaster! She hits indiscriminately. Chris and Will still have bruises from the last time they peeved her off."

_Ah, _thought Chris in understanding as he touched a familiar bruise on his cheekbone. He had gotten it shortly after the end of the War of Fables, right outside of the Domain Tower in fact. _I see. Crap. Why's he calling us about this? And for what reason?_

There was another pause in Ryan's conversation with their creator. "Oh, very funny. You'll be lucky that she doesn't knock you flat too, like all the _other_ 500 times she has. I still won't do it. Why? The insurance company doesn't cover her. She's part of that _we won't pay you if you get hurt by this_ list. I think she's listed after _Impending Doom_, and right before _Acts of God_." Another pause, during which Ryan's frown, if it didn't get any deeper, it certainly got darker. "Stop laughing. I was referring to the wrathful side, you nimrod."

There was another pause in the conversation.

"Can't you try calling them again, or better yet send someone else? Someone _other_ than Chris, or me 'cause… uh… we're allergic to Rika. That's right. Allergic. Well, we tend to break out in bruises so… well can't you send Henry? Who cares if he's back in the Dark Ocean again? Send 'em in! It's not like that author is doing anything with him anyway. Well, what about Ryo? Give me a break! Just because you have your own preferences doesn't mean that she's going to kill him! Kazu? Yeah… that sounded better before I said it. What about Kenta? Do I even _want_ to know why he's on a Locomon? Rrrrrgh! Jeri? Calumon?" Ryan sighed as he slumped in defeat. "Is there anyway we can meet you halfway on this? No? Terrific. Well, here comes another flare up of the strange purple and blue markings. Man… this stinks! Next time I expect to have full body armor and to be covered by armor support. That's right, Transformers style with Gundam Wing as backup. Okay, fine. Good-bye." Ryan hung up the phone with as much self-control as he possibly could muster before sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms in frustration.  
"What's up?" Asked Chris, trying to break up the eerie silence that now seemed to pervade the room.

"Our author has been trying to get a hold of Rika and Takato but for some reason they're not answering his calls. Probably means that they're in a fic that's _in-progress_ or something, but either way you and I have just been drafted to track them down and let them know _in person_ that today's writing session has been cancelled. Again."

Chris groaned. Long day just got much, much longer. "Why us? Can't he send someone else? Someone like Will?"

"He's off touring the FanFic Domain still, and has currently cut off all contact for the time being. The jerk. I had hoped to use him as a human shield for when we had to deal with the Digimon Queen."

Chris nodded. "Is that all?"

"Just about, though I'd like to know just how it is that author of ours can get us to jump through hoops like this."

"Well, he is the author…"

"Stop it. You're making me think that we have no free will."

"I thought that was your belief."

"Great, now you're putting words in my mouth."

"But that's what you told me once…"

The sound of their Principal clearing her throat brought the two boys out of their verbal ping-pong match. Once it was clear that she had their attention she spoke.

"I've conferred with your author and have made arrangements for you to be picked up by the FanFic express after school is let out. You are to report to the terminal and board it to take it down to Shinjuku."

"Say hello to that black and blue rash…"

The principal fixed Ryan with a glare before opening her drawer and giving the two boys four tickets, one for each of them and their digimon. Chris frowned.

"I thought the ride was free for registered characters."

"Cutbacks," said the Principal. "Until the Domain website is fully restored this is what we have to work with."

"Oh, man…"

"Now, if you are done here, I would like for you to return to class."

Nodding, Ryan and Chris left the office and walked down the halls of their school. Chris turned to Ryan.

"Do _I _even want to know what Kenta was doing on a Locomon?"

"Not if you wanna stay sane."

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The data was finally starting to come together. Finally, after three weeks it was nearly complete. The three figures grinned at each other as they watched it begin to take shape and proceed on the path of evolution.

Soon, soon their dreams would be realized.

In the darkness of cybernetic oblivion, a typical bad guy laugh echoed.

7


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: As I have stated in past chapters, will state in this chapter, and in future ones to come, I do not own Digimon. Neither do I own _No Rain_, by Blind Melon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 2

In the real, real world, outside of the domain of fiction a boy sat in a school's computer lab, eagerly typing away on a Microsoft Word document as the minutes ticked away on the clock near the door. He was almost out of time before he had to return to class, but he was almost finished with what he was writing. Word by word he typed, his fingers moving with a near feverish speed and intensity that defines that one moment when an author is the willing prisoner in a world of his own making. Actually, for this boy it's not a world of his own making but instead that of another's, modified slightly to suit his own interests and desires.

In the terms of popular culture he is an author of fan fiction, dealing with a genre of stories from the TV show known as Digimon.

Finally, as a drop of sweat rolled down his forehead, he was done. Saving the document and closing Word he went online and submitted his latest work to the site known as the FanFic Domain and did a quick check on any updates. There weren't many, sadly. A lot of authors, particularly the ones who tended to work with the Digimon seasons one and two. No surprise there really. Three weeks ago an author named the Lord of Fantasy who had been once very prominent in the standings had tried to take over the series and make the characters his own. He failed, thanks to the efforts of the other authors, a group of OC's, and the Canon Characters that resisted him, but the effects of that battle were still being felt all across the site, never mind what it did to the characters. Well, time heals all wounds. He felt that it was a crappy saying, because it wasn't always true, and often time left scars as bitter memories. He shrugged as he prepared to exit out. He needed a holiday, and he needed to check up on his friend Mark, the former Lord of Fantasy. The guy didn't come to school again today and wasn't answering any phone calls. He needed to check up on him, needed to see that he was all right. Perhaps… perhaps three weeks was long enough of a break for him. The boy had certainly earned it after everything that he had been through in the War of Fables, from Black Wargreymon to D-Leter. Now it was time that he should come back and help with the reconstruction effort. But first things first. He had to check up on Mark.

The author known as Dean could do no less for a friend and once former enemy.

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_Find the area of the hypotenuse,_ thought Sarah as she read over the math question. So far the test was going better than she was expecting, still not good but not horrible either. No doubt this was because the test happened to be multiple choice, which helped to relieve most of her stress as she had a one in four (occasionally five) chance of getting a right answer, and when it came to the odds Sarah had always been pretty good. She still had to show her work but that was okay too. It wasn't like she had to try especially hard at that since her teacher was a lot more lenient when it came to things of that sort. So long as you made an effort to show some work than you were almost always guaranteed an 'A'. At least… that's what she did for the homework assignments.

After a grueling hour and a half of writing, thinking, and calculating Sarah turned in her test and slumped back in her chair before taking out a small notebook where she would make small notations for a story that she was writing for the Digimon Branch of the FanFic Domain. She had been itching to write it for quite some time and submit it, but thanks to the recent troubles it would have to wait. Sarah sighed as she thought of her friend who had once again not gotten on the bus for the third week in a row. Well, if her teacher was nice and didn't give too much homework today she could try to visit him again. His mom would probably turn her away again but perhaps this time she would have a different attitude.

Maybe she should try to find a way to check on Mark without his mom finding out.

_I'll burn that bridge when I get there,_ thought Sarah. _No use starting a fire too soon though._ And with that thought Sarah took out a pen and began to write.

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FanFic Domain…

Ryan walked out of the school doors, his eyes focused more on the sidewalk than on the world around him, his face a vision of worry and agitation. Granted, he felt that he had every reason to be but he tried not to dwell on it. It wasn't _that_ big of a deal anyway. Not what it used to be anyway, though he couldn't tell if that was all entirely a bad thing. He was glad that he didn't have to do any writing sessions today since it gave him a chance to have something akin to a social life, or at least a life period. One that didn't revolve around a fic, and after three weeks he had settled into a steady routine. Go to school, go home, read stories and watch TV. Briefly he wondered if this was what the authors did in their spare time when they weren't writing.

_All I can say is that my life is pretty plain_

_I like watchin' the puddles gather rain_

Ryan frowned. Yes, that was something else. A side effect of the Fable War was that songs were now popping up inexplicably for no apparent reason. It could be interesting from time to time like when Davis and Flamedramon got a tune going while rehearsing for a Digimon Emperor fic. Ryan couldn't remember exactly what it was called but he thought that it went something like _Burn It All Down_.

_And all I can do is just pour some tea for two_

_And speak my point of view_

_But it's not sane, it's not sane…_

Suddenly there was there was a screech of static that made Ryan shout in surprise and plug his ears as the noise drilled into his brain. When it ended Ryan looked up at the sky and saw it warp a little. For a second, he could have sworn that he heard someone saying, _"Testing, testing…"_

But that couldn't be. Could it?

Before he could pursue that line of thought an arm wrapped around his neck and pulled him into a headlock, and was quickly followed by a painful friction as knuckles ground into his scalp.

"OW! Oooow! Hey! Stop it! Cut it out! What the heck…?"

"Well, if you answered me when I called your name instead of being off in la-la land I wouldn't need to go to such drastic measures to get your attention, Ryan."

Ryan's eyes shot open at the voice, and out of the corner of his vision he saw a familiar black fleece jacket and white t-shirt and he quickly tore himself out of the headlock and jumped back a pace.

"JANE!" He shouted in surprise as his green eyes met the blue-gray ones of a girl around his age with long midnight hair tied back in a long ponytail. She looked at Ryan with a cool, faintly amused look.

"In the flesh," she said. "Though I thought that I told you and everyone else to just call me _Raven_. You know that I don't like being called _Jane_."

Ryan sweat dropped. "Right. Sorry. What's up?"

Jane shrugged. "Not too much. Just got back from the digital world when our author finally got around to letting me know that our writing session was cancelled because of the fallout effect of the Fable War. Man, I can't believe that I missed that and that _you_ guys got to be smack in the center of it all. I mean, for crying out loud! Will got to see more action then I did!"

"It wasn't exactly all fun and games, Ray," said Ryan, ignoring the girl's glare at his shortening of her favorite name. And he was being honest about what he said too. It wasn't all fun and games. He had died and the CC's from season's 01 and 02 had been hurt pretty bad, not just physically but emotionally to.

Jane nodded. "I'm sure you're right, but it certainly would have been something that I would have wanted to be a part of. Way better than wandering around in the digital world like I've been doing so far. Anyway, how are the Canon Characters holding up? Do you know?"

Ryan shrugged. "About as well as anyone I suppose. It's kind of hard to tell seeing as how it's become a taboo subject around them. Have you ever read the work by the author Sigmund Freud on _Character Development and_ _Character Psychology_?"

Jane blinked. "The FanFic author or the real deal?"

"FanFic author. The key word in what I said was _character_, Ja… er…. Raven."

Jane glared at Ryan but said nothing about his near 'slip'. "No, I can't say that I have read it, at least not all the way through. Way too long and dry for my tastes. Are you telling me that _you've_ read it?"

"I was _really _bored one day. Anyway, it had a lot to do with character relations and how the coupling preferences of authors could affect a character psychologically…"

Jane groaned. "Forget I even asked. It was boring enough the first time I tried reading it, and your summary isn't any better."

"Sorry."

"Whatever. Have you heard anything from Will since he took off again to continue his tour of the FanFic Domain?"

Ryan nodded and he dug in his back pocket. "Got a post card from him about two weeks ago," he said as he fished it out and handed it to the dark haired girl, who looked at it with dry amusement. On it was a picture of a red haired boy named William with a Gaomon standing in a strange village with a Christmas Tree smack in its center and surrounded by a ring of animal like people (all smaller than William) who appeared to be singing. On the back of the card were the words _Wish you were here_. Jane snorted.

"Do I even want to know why he's in a Dr. Seuss story?"

"I don't," said Ryan simply.

Jane shrugged nonchalantly and handed him back the postcard. "So where you off to now?"

Ryan grimaced. "Well, Chris and I have to go track down Rika and Takato and let them know what the deal is with the fic that we're working on."

"I see," said Jane as she cocked her head to one side. "Want me to come with?"

Ryan shook his head. "Sorry, but Chris and I were tagged ahead of time and got train tickets for the FanFic express. I guess there wasn't any time to get you involved, and besides, it's only a search and inform mission. Hardly needs too many people to be tagging along."

Jane's expression didn't change but Ryan could tell that she was a little disappointed. She shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever. Anyway, I guess you'd better get on that, huh?"

"Yeah. Hey, where's your partner, Munnimon? I haven't seen her in a while."

Jane gave him a small, secretive smile. "Around. Now I gotta go see my teacher and pick up any homework that I might have missed while I've been gone. Later."

"Later." And with that the two OC's parted ways, just as the song from earlier came back to life.

_And I don't understand why I sleep all day _

_And I start to complain that there's no rain_

_And all I can do is read a book to stay awake_

_And it rips my life away, but it's a great escape_

_Escape… Escape… Escape…_

Ryan groaned at the lyrics. He could definitely agree with Chris on this one. Long day was only going to get longer. Oh, how he wished his life _was_ pretty plain.

_Ya don't like my point of view_

_Ya think I'm insane_

_Oh, my God,_ thought Ryan, shaking his head wearily. _Well, at least no one's breaking out dancing or starting to sing along. That would be just a little too much weirdness for me._

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Ryan arrived at the bus stop with his partner Richoemon in tow, looking around for Chris and Caramon, hoping to see some sign of them before the FanFic Express arrived to pick them up. Ryan brought out the new digivice that he had gotten from his author (his old one was destroyed when Richoemon digivolved to Mega. His author was _not _to thrilled to hear about that) and checked the time.

_C'mone Chris, where are you?_

A shout of glee caught his attention and Ryan looked up to see Chris and Caramon standing at a ticket machine trying to get it to work, and having a hard time doing it.

_Now why is he over there?_ Wondered Ryan. _He's already got a… wait! Who else is that with him? No. No way! It can't be… Aw nuts! It is!_

Standing next to Chris with eager, sparkling eyes as he messed around with the ticket machine was a blonde haired girl that he knew all to well.

Ashley Brahms.

_What the heck could **possess** Chris to bring **her** along! Is he insane? Rika will kill her! Well… actually that might not be a bad idea._

Motioning to his partner to follow him he walked over to the three of them. Caramon was the first to note their arrival.

"Hey! Ryan! Richoemon! Long time no see, guys! How's it going?"

"We're waiting for the FanFic Express to get here, and for you guys so that we can go down to Shinjuku," replied Richoemon with a goofy grin on his face before looking over at Ashley. "But why is she here?"

"Yeah, Chris. Just _why_ is she here? 'Cause I'm really interested in knowing why you invited our school's very own Mary Sue to join us on our little field trip."

Chris looked at Ryan, as did Ashley with a look that pretended to be hurt. She didn't pull it off very well.

"Well, she was telling me earlier about how she wanted to be more of a part in our daily routines so I figured that this would be a good time to get her to meet the cast and expose her to our lives." Then in a lower voice he whispered, "besides, you were the one who wanted a human shield for when Rika goes berserk." At that Ryan's face suddenly brightened.

"Good point! Now what's the trouble here?"

"Just trying to get a ticket for our 'friend' here, but this stupid machine isn't accepting my 'Account Card'. Must have a few bugs to work out of it or something."

"Well, guess that you can't come after all," said Ryan feeling just a little bit relieved. Ashley was not to be deterred however.

"I know how to make it work," she said in a voice that was so bright and cheery that both characters were immediately on their guard. On guard or not, they were still unprepared for her grabbing them both by the head and smashing them into the machine. A second later, a ticket stub popped out of the machine and she took it. The two boys recovered a bit, rubbing their foreheads and glared at her.

"What?" Asked Ashley in an innocent voice. "I saw Takuya from the Frontier season do that once and it worked."

"Of all the times for her to be picking up tricks from the TV show," growled Chris while on his shoulder Caramon giggled. Ashley just ignored them and walked off, heading for the Express train that was just now pulling in.

"Well," said Ryan. "My only consolation is that she is a guaranteed victim of the Digimon Queen. If we're lucky she'll be so focused on killing Ashley that we can just slip away and not be noticed. Man, did she _have_ to do that? I just got a new brain three weeks ago, I don't like it getting busted before I've had a chance to settle into it again."

Chris sighed. "Let's just go and get it over with. The sooner it's over the better, and maybe Ashley will get this idea out of her head for all of our sakes."

"I wouldn't count on it," said Ryan.

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In the real, real world…

The computer lab was empty and the lights were shut off. Devoid of all life except for the sound of chirping birds from outside the rooms windows. As the birds continued their singing a screen clicked on and a voice could be heard from its speakers.

"…DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

The screen clicked off.

7


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Nope. Still don't own Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 3

Koji wandered onto the Soccer field, cocking an eyebrow at the fierce match that was even now occurring between two players. Spying two familiar, goggle wearing kids watching the game on a nearby bench, the dark haired boy went over to them.

"What's going on?" He enquired to them. One of them, a boy in a red jacket, orange t-shirt with a strange symbol on it, and goggles on a hat that he wore answered without tearing his eyes away from the game.

"Well Koji, it's a _Soccer_ match. What did you think it was?"

"I know that Takuya, but I mean what's the score? Who's winning?"

"No one yet," said the other boy next to Takuya. Like the boy next to him he too wore goggles, though these were the kind that had started the trend. He had a deeply tanned complexion, spiky brown hair, and a look on his face that suggested that though he could be easily baffled by something (as was the case even now from what he was witnessing on the field) but also read determination, honor, and inner courage that had been refined by raw experience. His name was Davis.

"Yeah," snickered Takuya. "You could say that it's a _Tai _game."

"That's a dumb joke, Takuya."

"Wha…?" Exclaimed Davis. "I thought it was funny."

Takuya couldn't have been more on the mark in fact. Back and forth the two combatants ran across the field, kicking, punting, blocking, stealing… the whole nine yards. The Soccer match between them was fierce, and unrelenting. No quarter was asked or given. The players were evenly matched in every way, and you could say that they were 'equals', and in more ways than one. This may have had something to do with the fact that the resemblance between them was uncanny; almost to the point where one could say that they were identical twins. Except there was one flaw in that line of reasoning: for these two, their physical similarities went beyond family relations. They even had the same fingerprints. The only way that one could truly tell them apart was that one wore a blue shirt while the other wore a green. And when it came to conversation they had to deal with using different names, such is the life of having a character double.

Tai Kamiya vs. Taichi Yagami. _Tai game _indeed.

Oh, and the score currently stood at zero to zero. Tie game.

"So," said Koji as he crossed his arms. "This is what? Second week in a row that he's done this?"

"Yeah," said Davis as he took out a bottle of Gatorade and unscrewed the cap. "They usually come up here early in the day and play almost nonstop for hours, and usually to the point of exhaustion. I gotta say, I've never seen Tai or Taichi go at it like this. You'd almost think that they were fighting themselves."

Takuya sweat dropped. "That's because they are, Davis."

"Oh, right. Heh, heh. My bad."

"Actually," said Koji. "Davis does raise a good point. It does seem like Tai is fighting himself. Did it ever occur to you why he started doing this so soon after the Fable War?"

Takuya looked over at their friend Davis. "Uh… I don't think that we should be talking about this…"

"No, it's okay," said Davis as he took a swig of Gatorade. In truth, he didn't think it was okay, but deep down he felt that it had to be talked about if they were all going to get through what had happened to them. Just so long as they took it in small doses of course.

Koji eyed Davis before shrugging. "Look, we can't keep dancing around the subject forever. What happened was bad, but we can't just forget about it. We all have to be aware of what happened and what the consequences of it are."

"What consequences?" Asked Takuya a little hotly. "We all know about what that fight did to the FanFic Domain. We all hear the songs every now and then, and the authors are having a hard time loading stories…"

"That's not what he means though," said Davis as he calmly gripped his drink.

"Then what _do_ you mean?" Takuya shot at Koji.

"I'm talking about how we're acting around each other," said Koji. "Sora, Tai, Matt, Kari, TK, and Davis," Davis shifted a bit at the mention of his and Kari's names. "They were all affected pretty badly by what the Lord of Fantasy did to them. When your memories have been manipulated to the point where the real life that you've lived doesn't exist for you, how would you feel when reality comes back?" Koji took a look at Davis, who still watched the game between the two Tai's, only now he was gripping his drink more tightly.

"I… guess I never really thought of it that way," said Takuya.

"Exactly. Tai's been running himself into the dirt lately. Practicing daily, avoiding Sora and all Taiora authors like the plague. I've noticed that he's been participating a lot more in angst and tragedy fics and taking on the whole _lone wolf_ act. He can't go on like this."

"Well, what is there that we can do? Heck, why is he even acting like this? From everything that I've heard he was pretty cool when he first entered the fan fic community. Took it way better then most people as I recall. Remember how Zoe reacted? I didn't think that she'd ever stop threatening the authors whenever they approached her about a story they wanted her to be in."

Davis let it all sink in. He knew that they were right. Everyone was hurting, and not just Tai. Davis was still feeling down about Kari, and at times whenever they were together he tried hard not to talk for very long with her. Sure, he knew that things would settle back to normal, but the road there was going to be long and bumpy, and it wouldn't be what it used to be either. But no matter how he was feeling now, he could at least do something for Tai.

"I know," said Davis. "Why don't we ask his double Taichi or something? I mean, he knows Tai really well, no one better and you don't see him moping as much as his twin." Koji and Takuya nodded. It was true. Taichi hadn't been dragged into the Lord of Fantasy's realm, so he wasn't affected in the same way.

"Maybe he could help," said Koji. "But I don't know. What we need is something that can get him to relax. That can get _everyone_ to relax. We've all been through a lot, and with the author's having their trouble still it's not like we have a whole lot to do. Even _Rika_ was bored enough to get into one of those pretend stories that TK set up yesterday." Takuya and Davis blinked in surprise at that.

"A vacation, huh?" Thought Davis aloud. "Well, I recall that there was a vacation fic open back before everything went haywire. Got an island resort and everything, 'course we'll have to take a boat to get there."

"We could probably clear it through the authors," said Takuya. "Giving everything that's happened I doubt that they'll say 'no'."

Even Koji agreed on that. "I'd like to talk with Taichi first though before we settle on anything, though to be honest the idea of a vacation does sound interesting…"

"Wow. If you're agreeing to that we must be making progress."

Koji groaned. "Shut it, Takuya!"

The goggle wearing boy just grinned, but made no snappy reply. He had gotten under his friends skin, and that was enough for him.

Turning back to the match they saw that the two boys had stopped their match and were currently discussing something.

"Great," said Takuya in a joking manner. "Now they're talking to themselves. That's not a good sign."

"Don't you ever shut up?" Asked Koji.

"Hardly."

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Taichi looked at his double and sighed.

"You wanna tell me what's going on now, Tai?"

_Tai_ looked away. "No."

"C'mone. You know that it would be better if you got it out in the open. Remember all those lessons that you learned in the digital world?"

"That's just it though," said Tai angrily as he kicked the soccer ball away from them. On reflex, Taichi almost went after it, but quickly got a hold of himself. "Those _lessons_," Tai all but spat as he brought up his gloved hands and looked at them. "They don't mean anything anymore. Not what they once did. We're just kidding ourselves here. We're not real, we're just _playthings_."

"You don't mean that," said Taichi. "You've made a lot of friends among those writers. A lot of them like you…"

"Yeah? If that's true then why did the Lord of Fantasy do what he did? I trusted him! And you know what he did? He manipulated me! He manipulated Sora! And Matt! And Kari and Davis! He even turned TK against us just on the off chance that something would slip past his radar and find a way to shut him down! And when we got out of his control he tried to destroy us. It wasn't enough that he had to go gunning for rebellious OC's because they were fudging up his story, he had to make us _all_ a target. I thought that by leading my friends against him that would change things. Make them go back to normal," Tai looked up at the clear blue sky as tears began to form in his eyes. "But it didn't. Nothing's the same anymore. Nothing's going to be the same…" Tai wiped his eyes while behind him his twin laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. After almost a minute Tai looked back at the field and walked over to the soccer ball.

"I gotta go," he said, trying to sound strong. Taichi's face softened as he watched his twin begin his long walk home. There wasn't anything he could do unless Tai was willing to open up to him. What could he do to help though? He wanted to so badly.

Looking over at the bench he saw Davis and Takuya were calling him over. Forcing on a grin he walked over to see what they wanted.

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Reno and a wolf like digimon with bat wings named Dagmon walked down the streets of Shinjuku, getting a feel for the land. Getting in character you know? In a lot of ways they were a part of this universe even though they weren't based in it and were considered 'original' in all the ways that counted. They didn't really belong in the world of the Tamers (you kind of had to have a D-Arc for that, and the D-Comp that Reno had attached to his wrist didn't quite meet the qualifications) but that didn't matter. He still liked to visit the Shinjuku district anyway. It was a nice place. Dagmon certainly didn't mind. If nothing else he enjoyed talking to the Tamer's digimon. They always had interesting things to say.

Suddenly Reno's D-Comp began to make agitated noises and a breeze began to pick up. Looking down at his partner, Reno got into a defensive position, preparing to release data or digivolve his comrade on a moments notice. He took a look around but could see nothing.

_Is it just fic activity that my D-Comp's picking up?_ He wondered. _No, if it were that I'd be seeing a fog or something like that. So what is it?_

"Reno," said Dagmon growling. "Over there!"

Looking in the direction where his friend was indicating Reno noticed something odd. There was a figure approaching him, or rather the bare outline of a figure. It was kind of hard to tell really, it looked kind of like it was composed of… static. Like when a TV screen gets messed up, only he could see right through it. Another breeze picked up and Reno could swear that he heard words floating on the wind. They sounded like something out of the digimon movie, _Our War Game._

_Go back…_

_That can't be right,_ thought Reno as he pushed up his glasses.

"Hello?" He called out. First thing to do was to make contact and assert as to whether or not whatever the thing was, was a threat or not. "Are you lost or something? I mean you just used a line from the _Our War Game_ movie. If you're looking for a fic that's based on that or for Willis than I could probably tell you how…" Reno stopped and narrowed his eyes. Something was very wrong here, at least if the chill that was running down his back was any indication. And not only that but there was something distinctly _wrong_ about the shape of the figure. He had expected it to be sort of like Kokomon reenacting his scene, or at least digimon in appearance although it was. But there was something else, something that tricked the eyes. As if it were something that didn't quite belong here, but wanted in anyway. And there was a feeling of malevolence about it too, and Dagmon was quickly picking up on that, what with all the growling noises that he was making.

"Dagmon?" Began Reno. "Digivolve."

Dagmon barked a reply as Reno's D-Comp glowed, and a sphere of data surrounded the wolf digimon.

"DAGMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

"LUNASMON!"

Breaking out of the sphere, the newly digivolved champion level digimon took a step towards the entity. It continued to move towards him, not even noticing the sudden change in the creature that Reno was partnered with.

_Go back…_

"I'd love to," said Reno sarcastically. "But I've gotta say that I can't do that with you doing the whole ghost act and trying to wig me out here. How about a rain check and we can discuss things over lunch later? Like, sometime _after_ the universe has ended or something?"

_Go back…_

Reno sighed. This _thing_ only seemed to follow a one-track line. Well, it hadn't made any aggressive moves so far…

The static entity suddenly rushed towards Lunasmon and slammed its fists on the ground just as his target leapt into the air. Concrete flew every which way in chunks and pebbles as the sidewalk was torn asunder.

_Great,_ thought Reno. _The city repairmen are **not** going to be happy about this one. They already had to chip in to help out with Odaiba and the Domain Tower._

"Man, you really need to learn how to respect…" Reno's sarcastic comment was cut off as the creature suddenly screeched and phased out of existence, disappearing as its voice echoed in the air. Reno and Lunasmon waited, wondering if it was some trick of the creature's or perhaps an optical illusion (though the sidewalk could definitely testify otherwise). After a few minutes of the creature not returning Reno breathed heavily.

"I think that we need to see the author's about this, Dag," he said. Lunasmon growled in agreement.

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_"Okay, how the heck did **that** happen? I thought I could trust you to keep it under control until it was fully evolved!"_

_"I'm sorry! I have other duties you know. I only let it out of my sight for a moment!"_

_A sigh could be heard in the darkness. "No matter. It's almost reached its full potential. Soon it will be ready to help us claim what we want, and then no one will be able to stop us. Not even the author's will be able to do anything!"_

_Once more, a typical bad guy laugh could be heard echoing throughout the darkness._

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

The lights were out and the shades were drawn in the boy's room. The only source of illumination was that of a computer, though it was chaotic and unreliable. The boy had been trying for weeks to get it functional again and had gotten this far. Before he hadn't been able to turn it on. Gritting his teeth in pain the boy got up from off his bed and went back to the computer, determined to make it work again, no matter how much he hurt because of it. Pain at least told him that he was on the right track. At least he was no longer feeling empty inside like before. He just had to fight his way through it as he always had.

It was what made him who he was.

_I may be dishonored, but I will find life again. I will redeem myself in the eyes of my peers!_

The light on the boy's computer screen flickered again, but held just a little bit longer before winking out again.

6


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. What else is left to say?

The Four Seasons: Chapter 4

The FanFic Express ground to a halt and its doors hissed open, allowing five characters, three human and two digimon to get off. Behind them, a number of strange mechanical voices screeched a battle cry, each syllable perfectly emphasized for the maximum affect. The characters looked behind them as the train's doors closed shut, but not before they caught the rest of the word, which was now being taken up like some demented chant.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

The characters sweat dropped as the train began to pull away. Ryan turned to Chris.

"Do you think it was a good idea to tell those guys that they could find their enemy in _Whosville_?" Chris looked at Ryan with a look of surprise.

"You saw how those guys were looking at us! You wanna tell a pissed off Dalek that you haven't even _seen_ the series that they were in, let alone give them directions as to where they can find their quarry? I'd rather face Rika's wrath any day of the week then go through that! Besides, Will's there anyway. He could use a little entertainment."

"Still, it wasn't exactly very nice to point them towards an innocent village, even though they got Will to protect them."

"Yeah, you're right. It's not my fault though that they share the same name as the _Dr. Who _TV show. Next time someone writes a fic about them they may want to call it something other than_ Whos Down in Whoville_."

"I don't know," said Ashley. "I thought that those robot aliens were kind of silly."

Ryan chuckled a little at that. He supposed that it was hard to feel threatened by an alien that looked like a robot, bore a resemblance to a trash receptacle, and had an arm that looked like a toilet plunger. To be honest, Ryan felt much the same way, and he _had_ seen Dr. Who. However, when you're surrounded by over a dozen of them, all pointing laser weapons at you, being very loud and demanding (shouting their favorite catchphrase, _exterminate_ after every third word) one tends to get a little bit twitchy. Well, now that was over with and they could begin with their search, but first things first.

"I think that we should at least let the Whos or Will know what's coming their way so that they can be prepared," said Ryan. Chris nodded.

"I know where there's a payphone around here, let's go."

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Sarah walked through the hallway, heading to her next class. As usual her mind was drawn back to her friend Mark. Well, she'd see him after school was over, hopefully. And if not, she'd find a way to get in…

"Hey Sarah!" Called a voice from behind her. Turning, the girl saw a familiar face. A brown haired boy walked up to her and smiled.

"Hey, Mike," she said. "What's up?"

"Usual. Class, tests, etc… etc… You?"

Sarah sighed. "Just about the same."

"Mark's still not in yet?"

"Again," Sarah said. "I'm going to try and see him again later though."

"Do you think that his mom will shut the door in your face again?"

"Probably, but I don't intend to let her stop me this time. I'm going to see him, one way or another."

The boy grinned. "Mind if I tagged along?"

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Why? I mean, you two didn't exactly part on very good terms last time…"

"Neither did you," Mike interrupted. "In fact, from what I recall, whatever went on between you and him was what started that whole 'mess'."

Sarah frowned, but she couldn't argue with him on that. "Fine. You can come if you want. Meet me by the flagpole after school and no later! If you're not there I'm taking off without you."

"You're hardly inspiring me to hurry you know," said Mike with a slight grin. "I know where Mark lives too."

"Whatever," growled Sarah as she walked away. "I've got to get to class now. Just be there."

"Sure thing," said Mike as he too headed off to class. He would be there all right. He had every reason to be.

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Chris hung up the phone after completing his conversation with his friend and fellow OC, William. He hadn't been to happy finding out that an alien assault force was going to be interrupting his vacation, but he didn't sound to concerned about it. He said something about the _Whos being inventive_, his words exactly. Having read some of the crazy things that Dr. Seuss had come up with in his stories Chris wasn't too surprised by it, but even so he decided that it was best not to ask.

Much safer that way.

Looking around he spied Ryan and Richoemon with Ashley standing nonchalant nearby talking to the local pedestrians. Chris walked over.

"… And the other one that we're looking for has light brown, messy hair, a blue hoody, and he also wears yellow goggles. He's usually followed around by a large, goofy, red colored dinosaur with a hazard symbol on his chest."

The generic girl that Ryan had been asking for help from pointed in the direction of the park, and after muttering a quick thanks to the girl he turned to Ashley.

"Well, that's one down. Now all we need to do is find the other one."

Ashley frowned. "I still don't understand why you need to go about asking people questions politely and stuff. Wouldn't it be easier to digivolve your partner and start terrorizing people until you got an answer?"

"For one thing, it's against the rules. The Domain authorities get angry if you start causing havoc for no apparent reason. Another, we have to stay _in-character_. We can't just go OOC unless it's being written into a story."

"Plus it's kind of hard to get a straight answer from anyone when they're too busy screaming their lungs out," said Caramon from Chris's shoulder. "For all you know they'd only be lying."

"Yeah, but it'd be fun," said Ashley. Ryan, Chris, Caramon, and Richoemon sweat dropped.

"Remind me again, _Why is she here_?" Asked Caramon, looking at his partner.

Chris groaned. "Let's… just get a move on. So, what'd you find out?"

"Just where Takato is. The park as usual. You'd think that we would've thought of that ourselves, but nooo. Remind me why it is that no one ever picks our brains for brilliant ideas?"

"Well, they don't pick your brain anyway," said Chris.

Ryan glowered. "Shut up."

Ashley watched the exchange, wondering just how it was that these two survived waking up in the morning, never mind the Fable War.

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The air was tense in the little dinosaur hut as the three combatants concentrated fiercely. One of them, a girl with black silver tipped hair and a dark blue jean jacket with a red crescent moon on the back, had a look of excitement in her sky blue eyes as her hand drifted down to her digimon deck and drew one card from it. Her two enemies of the dual watched expectantly. This was it. This one turn would either make or break the game for them.

And judging from the look on the girl's face, it was break. Damn.

Slapping down a digivolve card, Kaio Griffen replaced her MetalGreymon card with WarGreymon. "That's it guys," she said triumphantly. "Game's done. You both lose."

"Aw, c'mone!" Exclaimed one of the two boys she had been playing with. He wore a visor and a black heavy metal shirt. Next to him, a kid with glasses slumped.

"Oooh…"

"Sorry guys," Kaio laughed. "That's the life of a gamer. Win some, you lose some, and it looks like you guys lost a lot. Fork 'em over!" Reluctantly, the two boys, Kazu and Kenta, gave Kaio the fruits of her spoils, a cartload of Digimon cards.

"And that is that," said Kaio.

"Oooh…" began Kenta, feeling miffed. "You… you're a lousy winner!"

"Can't you come up with something a bit more original," said Kazu, as Kaio sweat dropped. "I mean you already used that line from the show."

"Hey, it's not my fault. I'm hardly ever used by authors. What the heck can I do if no one helps me develop as a character?"

Kaio felt a stab of pity for the boy. It was true. He was one of the most underused characters in the entire Digimon Branch. Pretty sad when you think about it, but that was life. Looking outside of the dinosaur, something caught her eye.

"Look guys, I gotta go."

"Huh?" Exclaimed Kazu. "But we've only been playing for about an hour. You've gotta give us a chance to win our cards back!"

"I've given you guys that chance for the past fifteen games today, just as I've been giving you that chance almost everyday for the past three weeks! You guys are still in a fic…"

Kazu snorted. "Yeah, for an author who never shows." Kaio just ignored him.

"… And I've got places to go and people to see. Now, if you don't mind," Kaio scooped up her cards, placed them in her card holder and woke up her partner Arbomon, who had been sleeping during the past hour, true to her cat nature. Go figure. "I have to go."

"But we _do_ mind," said Kazu. "I'm so bo-o-o-red!"

Kaio just ignored the boy's plea as she exited the dinosaur and took off towards the group of kids that she had seen earlier.

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Ryan, Chris, and Ashley were wandering through the park, keeping a sharp eye out for Takato and Rika.

"So," began Ashley. "What're Takato and Rika like? I've heard all sorts of stories about them."

"Well," began Ryan thoughtfully. "Takato's pretty nice. A little goofy at times, but an okay person all together. Rika on the other hand is like a nightmare. One wrong move and she's liable to snap your neck like a dry twig. Just about everyone can attest to that, even characters who aren't even apart of the show."

"The sad thing is, he's right," said Caramon. Richoemon nodded.

"Poor Naruto. He never saw her coming."

Ashley raised an eyebrow at that. "Is she really that bad?"

"Well…" began Ryan.

"HEY, GUYS!" Shouted a voice from down the beaten path. Turning they saw their old comrade in arms, Kaio, running towards them.

"Ah," said Chris grinning. "Actually, here's a perfect opportunity for you to get a taste of what we're talking about. That's Kaio Griffen, Ashley. We worked with her during the Fable War crisis. She's about as close as you can get to Rika without actually getting killed or maimed. She'll be great for preparing you for the real thing."

Ashley watched, her muscles tensing as the girl jogged towards them, when suddenly a small, white, powder puff digimon jumped out of the bushes and looked up at Kaio. The dark haired girl stopped for a second, perplexed at first. As she stood there, the creature's ears suddenly expanded, and spoke in a voice that was of a happy, hyperactive child that was almost the definition of innocence and mirth.

"HIIIII!"

Kaio blinked, and Ryan and Chris tensed, waiting for the moment that they knew would surely come. Kaio screamed and the two boys closed their eyes.

"OH MY GOD!" Shouted Kaio. "CALUMON! YOU'RE SOOO CUUUUTE!"

_Wait. What?_

Chris, Caramon, Ryan, and Richoemon stared at the scene with massive sweat drops running down their heads. Before them, Kaio was cuddling the digimon known as Calumon, and giggling like a little girl. Ashley looked at them with an amused look on her face.

"Oh, yes. How terrifying. Definitely an angry monster. How horrible. I'm surprised you two are still alive."

"Well," began Ryan. "That certainly blew a hole in our sails."

Chris groaned and hid his face in his hands.

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The kid's stood in a semi-circle as Ryan and Chris finished up with the hellos, introductions, and explainations as to what they were doing in the area.

"So," said Kaio, still holding Calumon in her arms. "You guys are looking for Takato and Rika, huh?"

"To be honest," said Ryan. "I'd settle for just Takato. I could do without Rika's attitude today."

"Oh?" Asked Kaio, cocking an eyebrow and smiling mischievously. "And why's that? I thought that you two had a thing going."

Ryan looked at Kaio, his face a portrait of confusion and even irritation. "What the heck are you on? That's not funny at all! In fact, that stinks worse than any joke I could come up with."

"I just thought that after the last time I saw you two together, you know, right after the Fable War ended…"

Chris barked a laugh. "Oh, yeah. I've got my own little reminder of that day. I may have gotten punched for the comment I made, but it was _so_ worth it." Ashley looked at Ryan with a look of amusement.

"Dating someone that you've described as the creature from the Black Lagoon? You sure know how to pick them, don't you?"

Ryan's face darkened. "What is _with _you guys? FYI, I don't even like her! And I know that she doesn't like me. The day that we first met she said that she found me more annoying than Ryo." Next to him, Chris snickered.

"That doesn't necessarily prove anything you know…"

Ryan glared at him. "You're just saying that because you're a Ryuki fan. You know, it's weird. You're the only OC I've met whose pairing interests are detrimental to that of his creator."

"What can I say? They're just so funny together."

"Look," said Kaio. "Why don't we just get on with the search instead of standing here like a bunch of idiots?"

"We?" Asked Ryan. "Since when did you become a part of this little search party?"

"Since now," said Kaio coolly. "I'm bored and I could use some entertainment, and after three weeks of constantly playing _Digimon_ with Kazu and Kenta you guys are the best and most likely candidates around. Now let's go!"

_Dear God,_ groaned Ryan forlornly. _I'm having flashbacks to Odaiba when Will just _invited_ himself when I was going to my meeting with Tai. Here's hoping that nothing else weird happens like it did last time._

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

For the next hour the characters combed the park, looking for any sign of their quarry. They even stopped off at Guilmon's den only to find it empty. Weird thing that, but there was nothing that they could do about it. Finally, they decided to take a break and get something to eat while they discussed their next move.

"I'd say it's safe to say that Gogglehead is no longer in the park," said Ryan to Kaio as he used his character Account Card to buy himself some icecream.

"No, really? What was you're first clue?"

Behind her, Chris sighed, though not at Kaio's sarcasm.

"Ashley… you _forgot_ your Account Card? How could you forget it? I saw you with lunch at school today, what the heck did you use to pay for it?"

"I had them charge it to you," the girl stated simply.

"You **_WHAT_**?!"

Now Kaio sighed. "Terrific. Maybe this was a bad idea after all."

"Don't think to badly about it. Ashley wanted to participate more in our story and Chris said that we needed a human shield for when we have to contend with Rika. At least this way we kill two birds with one stone. Hopefully literally, and hopefully the bird is Ashley."

"Is she always like this?"

"Actually, she's usually more snobby than thi…" Ryan suddenly bounced off of thin air and dropped his ice cream cone on the ground. Before them, the air crackled, revealing a fog-like barrier.

"Wow," said Chris. "Check it out. Ryan found a fic. How much you wanna bet that we'll find our quarry in there?"

Ryan groaned as he stood up. "Won't know until we check it out. What do you say guys?"

"Ryan?" Asked Kaio. "I'd hate to say it, but if the fics in progress there's nothing we can do. Outside characters like us are barred from entering until it's completed. We'll just have to wait until it's over."

Now normally Ryan would agree, but as he looked at the fog he noticed something about it that seemed different from the other times that he had seen this phenomenon. Something was… different. There appeared to be holes in it, in numerous areas too. Big ones. And they all looked like they led into the story.

"Do you guys see that?" He asked.

"See what?" Asked Richoemon.

"Those holes in the fog."

"Um…" began Chris. "What holes? I don't see anything."

Kaio watched Ryan with a strange look on her face while he approached the nearest hole and passed an arm through it. To everyone's surprise, Ryan's arm disappeared into the fog and he pulled it back with no harm at all to it. Kaio suddenly caught on.

"You still have some of your _ghost sight_ from when you died, don't you? You can see the plot holes and inconsistencies in a fic!"

Ryan blinked. "I… guess…"

"COOL!" Exclaimed Caramon. "That means you can enter stories now and no one can stop you! Oh, that's so sweet!"

"Not quite the word that I would have chosen," said Ryan.

"Well, let's go guys. Ryan, you point out the plot hole and we'll go through."

Ryan did that and they all filed through where Ryan indicated. In a flash, they all soon stood on the other side, within the boundaries of a story. For the first time, they were watching it develop without actually being a part of its script. They all had to admit it was kind of interesting.

"Okay," said Kaio. "Now all we have to do is find Rika and Takato, and hopefully avoid whatever author is writing this fic. That shouldn't be too hard," glancing over at Ashley. "I hope."

The characters began to walk down the streets, looking to the sides every so often to make sure that they weren't missing a thing. The most obvious choice for them was to head to the stories version of the park as it seemed to be the one place that the Tamers tended to congregate at the most. As they entered its vicinity, Caramon, from his spot on Chris's shoulder, craned his neck to the side and froze, tightening his tails grip on his partner's arm until it became almost viselike.

"OW!" Exclaimed Chris. "Caramon! What the heck are you…?" Chris turned in the direction that his partner was staring at, and he froze to. The others also stopped in their tracks to look at him before following his gaze and like him and Caramon, froze too.

For several long, tense seconds, no one dared speak, so shocking was the sight before them.

"Huh," said Kaio, breaking the silence. "Now that's something you don't see everyday."

"Can hardly argue with you there," said Arbomon.

8


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. There are plenty of people who can vouch for me on that.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 5

Taichi Yagami closed the door shut and walked down the hall. He had just gotten done talking to the head of the FanFic Domain about the little idea that Takuya, Koji, and Davis had pitched to him after his soccer game with his double Tai Kamiya ended, and the head chief agreed. In fact, he had gone as far as to suggest a vacation for everyone, all characters who had been involved during the Fable Crisis. An all-access e-mail would be sent out and tickets to go along with them. After that it was up it was up to the characters as to whether or not they wanted to come. No one would force them, but it was to be taken under 'advisement', which was almost a euphemism for being forced into a vacation in its own right.

And besides, where Taichi Yagami was concerned, he was going to get his double Tai Kamiya on that vacation, and he (Tai) was going to enjoy it whether he liked it or not!

Taichi rounded the corner and came face to face with Ryo Akiyama. The two halted before each other, blinking almost uncertainly before finally grinning at each other.

"Hey, Taichi," said Ryo. "What's up?"

Taichi restrained a laugh. "Just setting up a surprise for everyone. Especially for my double."

Ryo raised an eyebrow. "Anything I should know in advance?"

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad. It's actually quite good. I got our boss to… well, you'll see. So what're you hear for?"

"Well, I wanted to talk with the head chief about Cyberdramon. He's been acting kind of weird lately."

Now it was Tai's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Weird? You mean weirder than your average, barely-in-control digimon?"

"Yeah, that's just the point Taichi. He's been too calm lately. He hasn't been going around looking for fights anymore. He's… well, he's _calm_."

"That's a bad thing?" Taichi blinked. He thought that the idea of Cyberdramon not acting as violent as usual would be a blessing in really cool armor.

"It would be," said Ryo looking disturbed. "But this is Cyberdramon we're talking about. As much as I would be glad to have my partner being quieter than usual, the idea of him acting different and not knowing the reason why is… _unnatural_. Something about it just doesn't sit right."

"Do you think that he's sick or something?" Asked Taichi.

"I don't know. I suspect author influence but that's always a possibility too. But then, Cyberdramon would be a lot more angry acting if he was sick because it would keep him down from fighting enemies."

"Good point. So you think that the guy in charge of the FanFic Domain would know what's up?"

"Got to start somewhere, Taichi," said Ryo. "Anyway, I've got to hurry up with this. My Dad wants me home early tonight." Ryo grinned. "He thinks that if he's not careful I'll disappear into the digital world again."

Taichi laughed. "You already do that on a regular basis anyway Ryo. I don't know how giving you a curfew will possibly stop you."

"Yeah, but it's fun to humor him sometimes. Anyway, I'll catch you later, Yagami."

"Later."

"Oh, and Taichi?"

Taichi turned, seeing a joking look on his friends face. "If you're lying about this _surprise_ of yours, a sudden resurgence of Cyberdramon's violent tendencies will be the least of your worries."

Taichi laughed.

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A gentle breeze blew through Shinjuku, making the tree leaves rustle as their branches swayed slightly. Off in the distance a bird was singing, uncaring as to whether or not anyone heard its music. The sun shone brightly, and its warm rays comforted all who stood beneath it. On this fine day in the springtime, all seemed well, like the first breath of fresh morning air.

"We're doomed," said Ryan, his voice that of flat resignation. "We are _so _doomed."

Kaio looked at Ryan and raised an eyebrow. "No, we're not."

Ryan took his eyes off the site that held everyone spellbound and looked at Kaio.

"Yes, we are. Last time I saw this I was dead and the world was ending." Ryan looked back at the scene and ran a hand through his hair. "Oh crap, this time we are so royally f…"

"Chris! Tell C3PO here to shut up and in the future keep his language suitable for audiences under 18! We are in a fic, after all."

Chris looked at Kaio, a little stunned. "Um… why? I happen to agree with him."

"And why is that?"

"Yeah," said Ashley. "What's the problem? All I see is a…"

"Ashley," said Chris calmly. "Since you're new here, perhaps it would be best if we gave you the lowdown on the situation before you go jumping to conclusions."

Kaio sighed, but decided that Ashley could do with a little education. Next to her, Ryan was still speaking of doom, though trying to be quieter now, as though Doomsday was something that could hear him, and that by being quiet about it he could ward it off and hope that it would pass the world by.

Now, let's examine the phenomenon, shall we?

The scene seemed harmless enough. Just a girl wearing a light blue dress, about the same age as the OC's, walking down the streets and not paying any attention to them; hardly anything to worry about really. Now let's take a closer look at this. _A girl in a blue dress._

Are you with me here?

She had a hard look to her face that was almost cold, and her eyes, colored violet, seemed directed inwards as though she were struggling with some great mental puzzle. She held herself with a look of pride that was a testament to the will of steel that everyone who knew her could only admire, and though she moved with a purpose she had a way of being completely separate from the world.

Still need another clue?

Her hair, which hung down just past her shoulders, burned fiery red.

Commence the drums of doom. Dun! Dun! Dun!

And if any of those clues still weren't enough, then Richoemon's statement from when he saw what everyone was staring at should more than suffice.

"Wow. Rika sure looks different."

No one could argue with that, and such was the reason for Ryan and Chris's distress. It was a commonly held belief among characters, though to be fair not everyone's, that Rika having anything to do with the feminine world such as having her hair down, wearing a dress, or even smiling, is that it's usually a sign of some great calamity. Given that Rika smiles right before she hurts someone, and of Ryan's own experience of having died right before he saw her with her hair down there seemed to be quite a lot of evidence to support this theory.

And now here she was, two of the three requirements met. Doomsday time.

_Gentlemen, the word is panic,_ Ryan thought bewilderedly.

"Um…" began Ashley, sweat dropping as soon as Chris finished his explanation. "Well, at least we know where Rika is."

"So what's going on here?" Asked Kaio. "What kind of fic is this that would have the Digimon Queen so completely OOC?"

In answer to that, Ryan pulled out his digivice and activated the analyzer program.

"Let's see… it's a romance/angst fic called _Frozen Hearts_ by an author named Fallen Angel. Mostly AU but still within the regular storyline. Guess that explains all the plot holes that I saw on our way in."

"Anything else?"

"Hang on. Oh! It's…"

Suddenly a familiar goggle wearing boy rounded the corner and crashed into the red headed girl, knocking them both to the ground. On the sidelines the OC's winced.

"Ouch," said Chris. "It's a Rukato."

"Yeah, I was getting to that. Wait. How'd you know?"

Chris turned to Ryan. "As our author is an advent supporter of this particular coupling I took it upon myself to study the phenomenon carefully. This particular scene is quite common in numerous Rukato fics. I think that it's supposed to play up Takato's renown clumsiness or something."

"Huh," said Ryan as he watched the two kids across from them rubbing their foreheads.

"Well," began Kaio. "Now we know where they both are. This was even easier than I thought."

Suddenly a number of generic people appeared around the OC's, shifting their course ever so slightly to avoid bumping into any one of them. The OC's blinked in bewilderment before their attention focused on a dark haired girl standing in front of them and glaring at them angrily. A red vein stood out most visibly on the girl's forehead.

"WHO ARE YOU, AND **_HOW_** DID YOU GET IN MY STORY?!" The girl demanded loudly.

Sweat dropping, Chris turned to Kaio.

"Looks like you spoke to soon, Kaio," he said sarcastically. "Nice job. You just jinxed us."

"Shut up!"

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Reno and Dagmon made their way towards the FanFic Express station, getting out his Account Card to purchase a ticket. Someone had to be warned about what he had seen today.

"Hey!" Called a voice from near the entrance to the station. Reno looked up to see a dark haired girl wearing a black fleece jacket and white t-shirt. She had a look of supreme confidence on her face and her blue-gray eyes flashed in excitement. Next to her stood a dark colored bird type digimon.

"Yeah?" Said Reno cautiously.

"Is you're name Reno?"

"What's it to you?"

The girl frowned. "Relax, will ya? I'm a friend of Ryan and Chris's. You remember those two goofballs that you fought with during the Fable War? My name's Jane, but I'd prefer it if you called me Raven."

"Hello… Raven," Reno said trying the name out. "I'm sorry but I don't have time to chit chat right now. I've got some stuff to take care of. If you're looking for your friends I can't help you. I haven't seen them since…"

"I already know that they're here," said Jane, narrowing her eyes slightly in annoyance. Reno felt an unconscious urge to flinch at the look. "I was just wondering if you were who I thought you were, but since you're too rude to give me your name I'll take my business elsewhere. Later."

_Oookay,_ thought Reno as the girl and her digimon began to walk off. _If that is one of Ryan and Chris's friends she's certainly a strange one. Kind of creepy too. Oh well. The next time I see Ryan or Chris I'll get them to confirm her story. Any idiot can claim to be someone's friend and… hang on. What's that?_

Turning Reno came face to face with an all to familiar entity of static. Next to him, Dagmon was growling.

"Oh crap," said Reno as he brought up his D-Comp. "Dag, digivo…"

Before he could complete his sentence the creature lunged at him and grabbed both Reno and Dagmon and enveloped them in a static-like field. Screaming the two struggled fiercely, but found themselves unable to escape its grasp. A second later the two disappeared.

Jane had turned at the sound of screaming, and her eyes widened with shock as she saw the boy and his digimon in the grasp of some creature, and soon they faded away into nothing. Quickly recovering, she unclipped her digivice from her jeans and growled, steeling herself for battle.

"Munnimon! Get ready to…"

Too late! The creature turned around and saw them, and with a speed that defied imagination it shot a bolt of energy at them. Jane screamed as she felt it stab into her heart and like the Tamer before her she faded away into nothing, her partner quickly joining her in the abyss.

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The train station was empty of all life. Nothing stirred except for the occasional piece of trash kicked up by the wind. From out of nowhere a laugh echoed, followed by a voice speaking.

_Go back…_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"Now I'm sure we can work this out," said Chris, trying to negotiate with the author that Ryan's digivice had identified as _Fallen Angel_. The author did not seem convinced. Such was her fury that even Kaio seemed at a loss for words at how to respond. Just as Fallen Angel was about to launch into a lecture about the consequences of rule infringement a dark shadow flew over them, and as the author and OC's watched in horror, a familiar ice like digimon with demonic wings swooped down, knocked down Takato and snatched Rika before flying back into the air. The author whirled around furious.

"ICEDEVIMON! GET BACK HERE! THE STORY WAS ON HAITUS! ARE YOU LISTENING?!"

Apparently not. As everyone watched, the frozen fallen angel continued on his flight towards the center of the city. The author turned to the OC's.

"Tell you what. You bring Rika back, and I'll forget I ever saw you."

Chris grinned. "Who says diplomacy is dead?"

And with that the OC's rushed after their quarry, and were quickly joined by the goggle headed Tamer.

6


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: To this day I don't own Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 6

_Tick! _

_Tick!_

_Tick!_

Sarah withheld a groan of exasperation. The day was almost over but it didn't seem to be ending _fast enough_! She watched the second hand on the clock tick its way towards the end of the day while the teacher continued to blather on about… whatever it was that he was talking about. What subject was she in again? History? She couldn't really remember even though she had been to the class almost a thousand times. Pretty bad when you think about it, but then, Mr. Thompson had that affect on people. Thank God she was only exposed to him for about 72 minutes on a daily basis. Any more than that and she'd probably end up forgetting her own name to go along with everything else.

_And just what is my name again?_

Had Sarah been an anime character, this would be where she would have face faulted or something.

Sarah groaned once again as she slumped in her chair, trying desperately to hear the sounds of the clock over her history teacher.

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_RIIIING!_

Sarah waited outside of her school while the last of the students were filing out of the building, waiting for Mike to show up.

_Only five more minutes,_ she thought. _And then I'm taking off without him. Well… maybe I should give him a little bit more time than that. He is known for being chronically late for just about everythi…_

"SARAH!" Called a boy approaching her. It was Mike. Sarah looked up, actually startled as the boy pulled up in front of her and halted, rubbing the back of his head and smiling.

" 'Bout time," Sarah grumbled. "I was just entertaining the thought that you wouldn't show up at all." Mike raised an eyebrow.

"Would I do that to a friend?"

Sarah smirked. "Yes. You would. Now come on. Let's go see if we can actually talk to Mark this time."

"Do you think that we'll need siege equipment? You know, like battering rams, grappling hooks, ladders, artillery…"

"Get serious Mike," said Sarah. "We only want to talk to him. If he doesn't want to see us we won't force him."

"Oh come on! You don't actually believe that do you? He's been hiding out at his home for three weeks! No one's seen him since, and just earlier today you were saying about how you weren't going to let anything stop you! You telling me now that you're going to back out of that now? That doesn't sound like you, Sarah."

Sarah grimaced. Okay, it was true that she was having some second thoughts about intruding on her friend's life now, but… no. Mike was right. Three weeks was way to long. She had to check up on him, no matter what his mother did or said. Sarah began walking off in the direction of Mark's house. Thank God that it was so close to the school. She stopped and turned to look back at Mike.

"Well? Are you coming or not?"

Mike restrained an _eep_ and quickly fell into step next to her, and together the two headed off down the road.

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"So what's the plan?" Asked Mike as they approached the dwelling of the once famous _Lord of Fantasy_.

"Hmmm?"

"I said, _what's the plan_? I mean, you do have a plan in case Mark's mom decides to shut the door in our faces and threatens us with the cops or a restraining order, right?"

"Oh, uh… well… I actually haven't given it much thought," Sarah admitted, her face turning a slight shade of red from embarrassment.

"Oh, that's swell," said Mike. "You know, I find it hard to believe that you actually made it to _Experienced_ status as an author for fan fiction. I've read some of your fics, and the plans that you come up with in them are pretty a-_mazing_. Yet, somehow it doesn't look like it translates very well to real life. Is that why you got an _F_ on your book report for English yesterday?"

"Oh, shut up. I'm not in the mood for your antics, Mike."

"Sorry, I'm just sayin' that I don't like flying blind here."

"Well, why don't you strain some of your brain cells and come up with a plan yourself? Either that or be quiet so that I can think!"

"…"

"Sorry."

"Whatever."

As the two kids neared Mark's home, Mike noticed something and felt the need to bring it to Sarah's attention.

"Um… Sarah?"

"Oh for _God's sake_! What is it? I thought I told you to be quiet!"

"I know, but I just wanted you to take a look at something here."

"Well, what? What could possibly be so… oh."

For a moment they said nothing as their legs ground to a halt. Mike looked back and forth between Sarah and what he saw at the house. There appeared to be someone at the door already. Someone that he had never seen before. A boy, about their age, was talking to the mother of their friend Mark, and as expected she was shaking her head at him with a look on her face that could cause ice ages. Within seconds the door was slammed shut. Mike turned back to Sarah.

"Well, at least now we know that your plan to talk things out with Mark's mum wouldn't have panned out. Now what I'd like to know is, who's the kid?"

As Sarah watched, the boy shook his head and wandered away from the house until he was properly covered by the hedges that ran along its side, before ducking into them. Sarah's curiosity was peaked.

"I don't know, but I think we should check him out. What do you think?"

"I should probably get my head examined for this…" began Mike, but a quick look at Sarah's face quickly convinced him on a course of action. "…But I think that we should, as you say, _check him out_."

"Glad you agree," said Sarah turning back towards their mystery boy.

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He crouched down, studying the house, looking for some sign of his quarry. It wasn't starting out so good; if the lady of the house had let him in to see Mark then he wouldn't have to resort to this, but here he was anyway. He had to check this out and make sure that everything was all right, if only to ease his own sense of guilt. So far he wasn't having much luck since he had to stay carefully hidden so as not to be seen, but at present it was looking as if his best bet for where Mark would be was the window with the drawn curtains.

_If I had my laptop then I could use my account's capabilities to make sure. Provided that is, that his account is also active or that there is something of his that I can follow. I remember hearing something about how he was banned off the net after what he did…_

"Ahem!"

The boy spun around, a look of panic flashing across his face before he realized who it was that had snuck up on him. He recognized them, a boy and a girl. They were friends of Marks. Good friends. Maybe they could… hold that thought. Perhaps introductions and explanations would be the best way to start things off.

"Um… I'll bet you're probably wondering what it is that I'm doing here…"

"Start with your name first," said the boy who stood behind the girl. He couldn't remember his name but the girl…

"Never mind his name," said the girl who the boy immediately pegged as Sarah. It was rather easy, seeing as how she hung out with Mark almost daily. "I know who he is."

The boy froze, his eyes widening in shock. _She knows? How? _

You wanna tell us what you're doing here… Dean?"

Behind Sarah, the boy's mouth became an _O_ while his eyes widened in surprise.

"No way…"

_Looks like the cat is out of the bag…_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

From up in the window, with a curtain now partially open, the once Lord of Fantasy watched this scene from his bird's vantage point with great interest.

_So, the knight has come to pay his dues… well, maybe he'll be useful._

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_"Was that really necessary?" Asked a voice from out of the shadows._

_"Of course. That Tamer was about to rat out our plan. It would have put the entire FanFic Domain on high alert, and that would have upset our plans. Correction: your plan. The rest of us are just along for the ride. And as for the other one, you know that she had to come along to, otherwise she would have said something. This way, things stay quiet just a little bit longer."_

_"True, but we can't expect that they'll stay that way forever. Someone's going to notice something's wrong, so we may have to step up our plans a bit. Hmmm… those two are going to be an unknown variable in what we've set up. Their presence could ruin everything, just as the OC's did with the Lord of Fantasy from before."_

_"Yes, but this time **we'll** have the advantage. There will be no author's to interfere when all the chips are down. We can remove them as we please…"_

_"… But still within the rules that have been set up. We still have to follow the format as best we can, and you **know** that just by being there, OC's will upset things, again. I don't think that you've thought this through clearly. You should have waited…"_

_"Waited? Waited for what? For the others the FanFic community to become aware of what we're up to? Give me a break, pal."_

_"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter at this point. We'll still have to step up our time table though…"_

_"Don't worry. I have just the perfect plan, with the perfect opportunity. Everyone that we need, in one place, at the right moment. Our little project should be fully prepared by then. We won't fail."_

_"Good. Because you know what will happen if we do."_

_"Only if they catch us."_

_"True. True. All right. Continue with your part of the plan, and keep me informed. And do something about those OC's while you're at it. Or better yet, have our partner do something about them. He's been complaining about having nothing to do lately."_

_"With pleasure."_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Jane awoke with a start, her eyes catching the faint rays of a sunset in a lush jungle environment. Next to her lay her partner Munnimon. Sitting up with a groan, the dark haired girl scanned her surroundings, not at all recognizing where she had fallen.

_Where the heck am I? _She wondered.

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A/N: Sorry that this chapter is a little short, but I'm feeling a little extra tired tonight. I promise more will come ASAP, so stay tuned. -Crazyeight

5


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. However, someone else does.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 7

The five kids and their digimon ran down the streets, following the signal of the missing Tamer known as Rika Nonaka in an effort to rescue her from the clutches of the evil digimon known as IceDevimon. That's right. _Rescuing_. Something that could very well get them all killed if they tried, and no, they weren't talking about when they came into conflict with IceDevimon. It had more to do with the Digimon Queen. _Rescuing_ was a word that didn't seem to exist in her vocabulary, at least when it came to her person. While unfair, everyone could attest to the girl's dislike of being treated like a damsel in distress. How ironic that she had been in that situation in multiple fics over the years, and many authors had walked away from the experience bruised and bloodied, but still very much alive. Now it seemed as though these characters, four OC's and one Canon Character were going to go the way of the authors also. If they were lucky that is. Still, priorities came first. They made a quick side trip to Guilmon's hut and all agreed on the next course of action. Rescue Rika, defeat IceDevimon (in no particular order), and then get the heck out of dodge before she killed them.

Yeah, that sounded like a good plan. At present though, there was a slight problem. While minor, it was rather disconcerting, as Ryan was making quite clear as they hurried down the streets.

"Are you kidding me, Takato?" He asked, his eyes on the Goggle headed boy and wide like saucers. Next to him, Kaio was amazed that the distracted boy hadn't run into a lamppost or something, so focused was he on hearing Takato's explanation that he really wasn't looking where he was going. Takato chuckled as he sweat dropped.

"Nope," the boy said nervously. "I can't biomerge right now. Fallen Angel put a lock on my D-Arc when I accepted this fic."

Kaio snorted, and behind her, Chris piped up and chipped in his two cents.

"That's a little bit insane, and we of _all _people should know. What would you do if you got attacked by a mega digimon? WarGrowlmon would get his butt plowed into the curb and then some! Well, I suppose that it's a good thing you got your cards on you…"

"I don't have my cards."

"WHAT?!" Kaio stumbled in surprise, and Ryan quickly caught her to avoid having his comrade fall to the pavement. Muttering some thanks she returned her attention to Takato.

"_What_," she began, emphasizing the word carefully. "…Kind of author sends a Tamer into a fic without his deck of cards? Is she insane? I mean…"

"I think that I had already established that," said Chris. Kaio glared at the blonde haired boy.

"Don't interrupt me when I'm talking. Now, let me get this straight. You can't biomerge _and_ you don't have your cards."

"It's not my fault!" Exclaimed Takato as he held up his hands in a warding gesture. "The author felt that it wasn't necessary since I'm supposed to beat IceDevimon easily in this story…"

"Without cards or the ability to biomerge? Let me see this script!"

"Um… guys?" Spoke up Ryan. "Not to kill the _anger mood_ but shouldn't we be mounting a rescue here?" Kaio huffed and quickly resumed the run, with the others trailing behind her. Chris looked at Takato.

"So, why did the author put a lock on your ability to biomerge?"

"Well, this is supposed to be an early season fic…"

"Plot holes," said Ryan simply. Takato blinked at Ryan, wondering just what he meant by that. Chris sighed.

"Long story."

"Is it a good story?" Asked Takato, giving Chris a cheesy, lopsided grin. Chris looked at Takato blankly for a moment before realizing that the goggle wearing boy had made a joke.

"Heh," said Chris more to relieve the pressure that he was feeling rather than at Takato's sense of humor. "That depends on the reader."

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The kids found their enemies hideout in record time and proceeded to climb the stairs to get to it, somehow avoiding all security and disregarding the use of the buildings elevators. Whether this was because they couldn't trust IceDevimon to not mess with them while they were confined in a small space or because they had too much of a sense of drama didn't matter. In the end, they made it to the doors that led to the top of the roof. Breathing heavily the characters looked at the doors. They were frozen shut.

"…Gasp… pant… wheeze… how… much… do you… want to bet… that we'll find one giant glacier fortress past those doors, just like from the TV show?" Asked Chris as he leaned against one of the railings. Kaio looked over the kids with a measured gaze.

"I… don't think that… it matters at this point. We're here to rescue Rika and kick IceDevimon's butt. If you guys are too tired to go through with this then…"

"Forget it," said Ryan as he brought out his digivice. "Let's just get this over with so I can get home. This _wasn't_ how I planned to spend my afternoon, so I'm thinking on taking my frustration out on a certain icy virus for lost time. With interest."

"A little blood thirsty, aren't we?"

"Sorry," said Ryan looking a little ashamed. "I'm just a little frustrated right now."

Kaio nodded as she brought out her digivice, and drew a card from the deck box clipped to her belt. "So you already stated. Everyone ready?"

Nods from all around.

"Then let's go." In one smooth motion, Kaio slid the card through her D-Arc, and there was a flash of light. "DIGI MODIFY!"

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The doors exploded off their hinges as four mighty champion level digimon, Dicedramon, Terradramon, Dracaramon, and Growlmon broke them down and strode into the room, ready for anything be it Apocalymon, the Dark Masters, the Seven Demon Lords, or all of them together. It didn't matter to them. All they knew was that one of their friends was in trouble, and they were prepared to storm the gates of hell itself if it meant freeing her. Their partners likewise followed suit, scanning the room for potential hostiles and readying themselves for the danger that they knew would surely begin.

"WELL! LOOK WHO'S HERE! WHAT'RE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?"

The characters looked at the source of the voice that had hailed them, and they immediately sweat dropped. Okay, they hadn't been expecting _this_.

Standing proudly over a fallen IceDevimon stood Rika Nonaka with her partner Renamon at her side. Takato stepped forward, scratching the back of his head and restraining a nervous chuckle.

"Well… we came here to rescue you but…"

"Do I look like I need rescuing?" The girl demanded hotly, tilting her head at IceDevimon. To a man, the character's flinched.

"Well," began Ryan from next to Kaio. "I wouldn't call it _rescuing_, more like _assisting _you in your escape so that… uh… you could get out faster."

"Yeah, right," said Rika in a deadpan tone. "And watch you guys trip over yourselves? Give me a break!"

Kaio bristled a bit at the girl's tone, but decided to hold back on her own temper. The last thing they needed was a fight between Tamers right now.

"Sorry…" muttered Ryan. "Um… Chris? A little damage control dude?"

"I've got nothin'. Sorry."

"Rika," began Kaio. "The least you could do is 'thank' us or something. I mean we came all this way to get you out," yes. _To_ _get her out_. She wasn't going to dance around the subject just to please this temperamental girl. "And all you do is come down on us. It's supposed to be the _thought_ that counts, you know."

Rika met Kaio glare for glare before looking at the others. Rika sighed. Kaio was right. She really had no reason to be angry with them. Heck, all the lessons that she learned from her series and you'd think that she would have calmed down some. Well, she had authors to thank for her change in personality. They seemed almost bent on keeping her in a perpetual angry mood, and OC's were no different to her, probably because she saw them as characters playing at the real thing, basking in the light of adventure and treating what they did as though it were a game. Granted, they were just pretenders but she had no reason to act this way around these OC's. They were… different. Kaio, Ryan, Chris, and a few others who had fought in the Fable War (and even some who hadn't), they seemed to have a different outlook on things that almost reminded her of the old days. They seemed more aware of their position as OC's. They didn't care whether or not they were real, or that their own life spans and lives themselves were different from the Canon Characters. They existed, and that was enough for them.

They were more then just your regular fan made characters, and their involvement in the Fable War had proved that.

"Look," Rika said. "The effort is appreciated, and I'm sure that you all had the best of interests at heart, so… thanks. Even though I could handle the problem on my own. Now, if you don't mind, I would like to leave." She wasn't kidding about that. She wanted to get out of this dress and burn it. As she walked towards the exit, a thought occurred to her. Turning to Ryan, she raised an eyebrow.

"Just out of curiosity, what were you and Blondie doing here?"

Ryan blinked. "Oh. Well, we were told by our author to tell you and Takato that the writing session planned for today had been cancelled again. He couldn't reach either of you two for some reason so he decided to send in the ground troops."

"I see…" Rika said, narrowing her eyes before leaving the room. The OC's watched her retreating form before letting out the breath of air that they had been holding.

Chris looked over at Kaio and gave her the thumbs up.

"Nice one," he said as quietly as he could, as though he were afraid Rika could still hear them. "You told off the Digimon Queen and lived to tell the tale. Awesome. Most of us can't even say a word to her without getting clobbered."

Kaio snorted. "You guys are just wimps."

Ryan looked around in confusion. Chris and Kaio watched him with raised eyebrows.

"What's up?" Asked Chris.

"I'm just waiting to see if something bad is going to happen. I mean, we just saw Rika with her hair down and in a dress. You'd think that the Apocalypse would be knocking at our doorstep by now. At the very least I'm expecting the IRS to show up and tell us that we defrauded on our taxes or our identities got stolen. Something like that."

Chris laughed and slapped him on the back. "Hey, just be glad that she didn't smile. The sun would've surely exploded then if that happened."

Behind them, Ashley stood at the entrance shaking. She didn't have the heart to tell them that she had seen the rare occurrence grace Rika's face as she left.

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Some time later Ryan waved good-bye to Chris, Ashley, and Kaio as he got off the FanFic Express and headed home. Normally Chris and Ashley would follow him, but he decided that it would be best to help Ashley relax after her ordeal, even though it seemed to be rather anticlimactic (at least in his opinion), and Kaio decided to tag along. Ryan and Richoemon walked down the streets towards their home and the events of the day played through Ryan's mind. Ashley had been a little taken aback for some reason after their encounter with IceDevimon. Nerves probably. She couldn't seem to believe that this was what they did on a daily basis.

_"Is this what you guys do everyday?" _She had asked. And of course they had answered yes, to which the girl had promptly fainted. Weird Ryan thought, but then he was used to this sort of thing. Although in light of today's events he sometimes felt as though he were living in a parody of fiction, and he had said as much to Chris.

_"Well, we **are **in a fic,"_ Chris had replied. _"Even if it's on hiatus status."_

There were times where Ryan wished that he lived a normal life, even if it was just one of the faceless. At least they didn't have to put up with this sort of thing.

Opening the door to the house he shared with his father Ryan and Richoemon walked inside, the little orange dinosaur making his way upstairs while Ryan headed off into the kitchen to get something to eat and check for any updates for his character career. No rest for the weary.

"Hey, kid," said Ryan's father as he walked in. Ryan looked up a little bit surprised. Usually his dad was in his study doing work.

"Um… hey. What's…?"

"You got an E-Mail today," said the adult grinning, picking up a letter and handing it to him. Ryan took a look at it, skimming over the words until one caught his attention and he immediately reread the letter.

"A vacation? When did this come up?"

The adult's grin widened. "Today. Didn't you read the date Rye?"

Ryan frowned at his father's use of his name but didn't comment on it. He looked at the letter again. Two weeks worth of vacation. Multiple characters by the looks of it. CC's, Doubles, OC's, the whole nine yards by the looks of things. Not that he didn't want a vacation (though frankly he would have preferred one without a crowd in tow), but there was one key detail. It was coming up on the weekend, which was around the time that he visited his mother and little sister. He looked up at his father, who nodded.

"Don't worry, I've talked things over with her, and she's not going to complain too much about your absence, though I figure that your sister will do enough of that for the both of them. You _do_ need a break. That author of yours has been flogging you and your friends through that story of his without let up even after the recent crisis that you were involved in. Take my advice, bud. Go on this vacation while it's still on the table. You'll have plenty of time to see Liz and Erika in your life. How many vacations are you going to get in comparison?"

Ryan frowned. "Wasn't it you who taught me that family is important?"

The adult raised an eyebrow. "Ryan…"

"Okay, okay," said Ryan. He didn't want to get his dad's back up if nothing else. "I'll go, and I _will_ enjoy it too. You don't need to worry about that."

His father nodded. "I'll be sure to give Liz and Erika your regards."

Ryan smiled warmly. "Thanks Dad."

"Just don't kill yourself while you're out there this time."

"Oh, ha, ha. It only happened the one time."

Later that night, Ryan had talked briefly with Chris. The kid was definitely excited, no doubt about that. Ahhh… vacation. Sun, water, luxury, the company of characters who were practically celebrities. As Ryan prepared to go to bed he smiled.

What could _possibly_ go wrong?

_The mind boggles…_

6


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't have enough money to own Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 8

"You wanna tell us what you're doing here, Dean?"

The boy known to Sarah and Mike as the author Dean blanched. He really hadn't been expecting this, and he prided himself on preparing for the unexpected.

"First I'd like to know just how it was that you knew who I was."

Sarah gave him an annoyed look and pointed at his jacket, and a light bulb clicked on upstairs. His jacket was purple.

"If you're going to be traveling incognito," said Sarah. "You may want to do so in something a little bit less identifiable. Everyone knows about your signature colors. Now, how about you tell us your _real_ name."

"Um… why?"

Sarah rolled her eyes in exasperation. "If you want to go about it the hard way, then I can check you out in an old yearbook, or look up your file on the school website."

Mike looked at Sarah with a surprised look on his face. "You can do that?"

Sarah shrugged. "I _accidentally_ hacked into the files from home one day during the summer. Helped me get out of summer school."

The known as Dean glowered at her. "You're bluffing."

"Okay. I'll be seeing you next week after the weekend is over. I'll have your name then."

"Rrrrrgh… fine. My name, my real name's _Sam_."

Mike blinked. "I don't think that I buy that. I watch _Supernatural_ so you can't get me to…"

"Doofus," said _Sam_. "That's precisely why I chose the name _Dean_ as my penname. Don't look at me like that, I happen to like the show, and I'll have you know that I won't respond to any other name but Dean."

"Whatever," said Sarah. "Now, you mind telling us what it is that you're doing here?"

Dean nodded. "Because of Mark."

"Why?" Asked Mike. "You fought him in the Fable War. You guys were practically sworn enemies…"

"He's also my idol," said Dean. "He… helped me out when I first started writing. First in our school a couple years ago, and then later when he reviewed my second story. Gave me quite a lot of good pointers then. He doesn't know of course because I ran under a different penname then but he earned my respect. Before I became _Dean_ he and I used to talk pretty regularly, then I got accused of copying someone else's story and my reputation went down the tubes. So I started over, kept things secret. Though I gotta admit, I like playing Dean more than I did my last Avatar, and no, I won't tell you what his name was."

"Like it matters anyway," said Sarah. "So you came by to try and talk to him, huh? I see that you've already met his mother. She doesn't let anyone see him since the _incident_. I think she sees it as a betrayal by his friends."

"Yeah, I kind of figured on that," said Dean nodding. "Bad blood that. We'd have to wait until she's out of the house to get to him, but that will be difficult. She almost never leaves. I think she's one of those _stay-at-home _moms."

"Well, I think that we can still come up with something for today, I mean…"

That was when a piece of paper hit Dean on the shoulder and landed between the children. Bending over and picking it up, Dean unfolded the paper and began to read the papers contents. He looked up at the others.

"He says that there's some," he paused as he looked up at the house just in time to see the window that had the closed curtains shut, and the curtains pulled again. Sarah made as if to call out to the boy in the window but Mike stopped her. Dean continued. "He says that there's some free time tomorrow when his mother goes down to the market and visits some of her friends. Early in the morning it says, about eight. She should be gone most of the day."

"How convenient," said Sarah. "Almost a little to convenient. In fact, I'd almost swear that an author wrote that in just to make things a little easier for us."

"Oh, knock it off," said Mike frowning. "I'm just glad that we'll finally be able to see him. Three weeks is way too long a time to be separated from a friend. Even if we didn't part on very good terms. Meh, whatever. There's no reason to stick it out here for much longer. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going back to school and catch the after school bus home. I can probably ride my bike here tomorrow if my parents will let me…"

Sarah nodded. "I don't think that I'll have too much trouble on that front. My parents don't care where I go so long as I keep in contact with them on a regular basis, tell them where I am, who I'm with, etc… etc… the usual stuff."

"I'll _definitely _be here tomorrow. No question. Even if my parents say _no_."

"All right," said Mike as he turned around and started heading back to the school. "See you tomorrow then. Eight O'clock, right?"

"We'll see," said Sarah. "You know parents after all…"

"Yeah," said Dean. "We know parents."

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Sarah waved to Mike as the bus pulled away from his house and settled into her seat. She sighed. Tomorrow she would see Mark and talk to him. Hopefully help bring him out of his _funk_ and get him back into the world again. Maybe even help him set up a new account on the FanFic Domain despite what he did. Even if he didn't want to be friends with her, Mike, or any of the others anymore she did know that she would miss his stories. She didn't think that the world of fan fiction should lose them, no matter what he did.

With that thought giving her hope, Sarah's mind drifted off into the world of imagination, and to her story.

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Chris looked at Ashley with a worried look. The girl had been awfully silent ever since they _rescued_ Rika. Frankly he didn't know what it was that had upset the girl so much, and even when asked she would reply, a little quickly, that there was nothing wrong and that he should mind his own business. Sighing, Chris looked over at Kaio, who was sitting on one of the FanFic Express's seats, calmly looking over what looked like… a script?

"What's that?" Chris asked Kaio. She looked up, blinking. She must have been pretty absorbed in the writing.

"It's the script for that fic that we broke into, _Frozen Hearts_. I was wondering just how many plot holes were in it ever since Ryan was able to see them and Takato's _brief_ explanation for why he didn't have his cards and couldn't go mega."

"I see… hey! How'd you get it?"

Kaio chuckled. "I stole it off of Takato when he wasn't looking."

"That's not very nice," said Chris, trying to be the upstanding moral character on the train, if only to set an example for Ashley. A second later he sat down next to Kaio. "Is it any good?"

Kaio scoffed. "Not really. Very OOC. And when I say very, I mean _very_. Fallen Angel seems to have Takato pegged as a Gary Lu character, never mind that Rika is so feminine that it almost makes you want to tear your eyes out."

"I thought that it was supposed to be an AU."

"It is, but this is just a little too much. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to bury this thing in unconsecrated ground before I get home."

"Ouch."

"Maybe you should consider becoming a critic for fics like this," said Arbomon from next to Kaio. Kaio sniffed.

"Yeah, that'd be ironic wouldn't it? A character critiquing the story of an author."

"Hey, don't knock it 'till you've tried it," replied the mythical cat digimon.

"I'm not _knocking_ it," said Kaio frowning. Then a small grin appeared on her face. "You know, I actually like that idea." The grin on Kaio's face seemed to grow and become almost malicious in appearance. Chris had the sudden urge to change the subject.

"So… um… what was that deal with Calumon earlier? I mean that was the last thing I expected from you."

Kaio fixed Chris with a frown. "What? I happen to like cute things. You weren't expecting me to kick that poor little digimon, were you?"

Chris sweat dropped. "Uh…"

"_Were_ you?"

"You know," said Caramon, from Chris's shoulder. "Kicking just sounds so harsh. I would rather prefer _nudging_ with your foot as a replacement. Nudging_ very hard_."

"Caramon, you're not really helping my case here."

Kaio glared menacingly at the two, and Chris looked around, desperately trying to find something that could defuse the increasingly dangerous situation. Fortunately, his saviors just stepped onto the train car.

"YEEEEAAAHHH!" Shouted a cap wearing goggle-baring boy in a red jacket. Looking over at the boy, Chris immediately recognized him as Takuya from the Frontier series. Right behind him came two more characters that Chris was familiar with. Koji from Frontier, and Tai from… _Wait. Hold the phone here. Tai's wearing a different colored shirt. This must be Taichi Yagami, his Japanese double._

"All right!" Exclaimed Takuya as he took a seat. "Two weeks vacation for all Digimon characters! You did great, Taichi!" Chris, Kaio, and Ashley's ears perked up at this.

"Heh, thanks Takuya. Now all we have to do is make sure that Tai comes along. Shouldn't be too hard when I get through with him…"

"Get serious," said Koji a little blandly. "You and Tai are so evenly matched that you can't really convince him to go anywhere…"

"Yeah, but that's what we're going to be there for," said Takuya with a huge grin on his face. Koji groaned.

"Um… excuse me?"

Taichi, Takuya, and Koji looked over at Chris. The blonde haired boy gave them a goofy grin.

"Uh… sorry to interrupt, but what was that you said about _'two weeks vacation for **all** Digimon characters'_?"

"Just that all characters associated with the TV show _Digimon_ are going to be able to go on vacation," said Takuya. "Why do you want to know?"

"Does that include OC's too?"

"Well, yeah. What are you getting at?"

Koji took a closer look at the blonde, his eyes narrowing in concentration. "Hey, I know you. You're that Chris kid. You're one of the OC's that were involved in the Fable Conflict."

"Heh, I see my reputation precedes me," said Chris as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Yeah, or lack of," muttered Kaio. Next to her, Arbomon gave Kaio a look of annoyance.

"Kaio!" She hissed.

"How're you doing?" Asked Koji as he extended a hand to Chris, who promptly shook it.

"I'm doing pretty good. Hey, has anyone ever told you that you sound just like Ryo from the Tamer's series?"

"(_Only when I'm speaking in dub,)"_ said Koji grinning. Chris blinked in surprise. _"(I had the same voice actor as Akiyama.)"_

Chris blinked again. "I don't believe it," he said. "The words sounded different, but I actually understood what you were saying."

"Subtitles, Chris," said Kaio as she returned to reading the script from _Frozen Hearts_. "I saw them running in my mind's eye as soon as he spoke."

"Oh."

"Anyway," said Taichi. "We've realized that some of the Digidestined have been under a lot of pressure lately, stemming from the Fable War, so we figured that what they needed was a nice, long vacation. Takuya here figured that we might as well share the love while we were at it, especially to those OC's who helped out in the fight against the Lord of Fantasy. You going to go?"

"You bet," said both Chris and Caramon excitedly.

"Wait," said Chris as he furrowed his brow in thought. "Where am I supposed to go?"

"You don't need to worry about it," said Koji. "You should be getting an E-Mail by the time you get home, letting you know when and where you need to be."

"Wow. That's… that's just awesome!"

While this conversation was going on, Ashley was watching Taichi in amazement. Practically captured by him. So enwrapped by the Digidestined of Courage that she forgot about the possibility of doom from earlier. Giggling like a little girl, Ashley switched to Mary Sue mode and approached him. Sure, he was a _little _older than she was, but that didn't matter much in her mind.

"Hiii Taichi," she said softly. Taichi looked at the girl blankly and sweat dropped.

"Um… hi? Who're you?"

"No one you want to know," said Caramon quickly.

"Hey!" Exclaimed Ashley.

From where she was sitting, Kaio looked up from the script and raised an eyebrow before returning to her reading. She wasn't going to get involved.

_That girl is so weird,_ she thought.

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Later that evening, Chris hung up the phone after having a quick talk with Ryan about the vacation, barely able to contain his excitement. Looking out of his bedroom window Chris thanked whatever deity's existed for this gift.

_Tomorrow's going to be great…_

6


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: This is bad, I keep repeating myself with this disclaimer. I don't own Digimon. Nor do I own _Bad Moon Rising_ by Creedence Clearwater Revival

The Four Seasons: Chapter 9

The sun rose in the world of the FanFic Domain; a signal to all that it was time to wake up and rise with it. For many, there were groans of exasperation at having their rest interrupted like this, but for some there was excitement at the start of the new day. For the characters of the Digimon Branch of the FanFic Domain, they had much reason to celebrate.

_And why shouldn't we?_ Thought a boy named John as he approached the Nonaka residence, a Tapirmon floating by his side. John had a small smile on his face, curving upwards as he thought of the vacation that he and the others were about to go on. This was one of those moments that he was grateful that he was both a character as well as an Avatar. He was able to go on little junkets such as this while the other authors were stuck working on repairing the website. Granted, he would want nothing more than to see the FanFic Domain up and running again, but he needed the rest. He had after all fought in the famed Fable War, struggled against the Seven Demon Lords, tussled once with Black Wargreymon (who now guarded the Domain Tower), and got nailed along with just about everyone else by the Lord of Fantasy's evil program called D-Leter. None of the other authors, except for Dean who had been there from the start, had shown up until _after_ the character's got their butts handed to them in a sling and stole the glory. Not a single one of them except for him and Dean wound up in traction. Well, they didn't really end up in traction, but it sure _felt _like it. John groaned. Never before had he thought that something so simple as a backspace button could hurt so much, and he had even Mode-changed!

Yeah, all in all, John felt as though he and Tapirmon had _so_ earned a little R&R, and he wasn't just talking about _Reading and Reviewing_. John chuckled as he stopped in front of the gate that led to Rika Nonaka's home. He raised his fist to knock, only to stop when the door opened, and a fiery red haired girl stood with a suitcase, looking over her shoulder and speaking in a loud, slightly irritated voice.

"Renamon! Would you hurry it up? We don't want to be… oh!" Rika blinked as she turned her head and saw John and Tapirmon standing in front of her. "I take it that you're here to see Renamon?"

"Um… well…"

"Look. Make it quick all right? She's going on vacation with me and just about everyone else, so if you have something to say…"

"Huh?" Said John, just a little bit bewildered. "I'm not here just to chit chat. Well, actually I am, but I guess I can do that on the boat…"

Rika grinned and looked at John with an amused look. "Going on the vacation trip too, huh? Good. Here, make yourself useful," she said and with that she tossed the suitcase that she had been carrying at John, who caught it, only to sink to the ground as its enormous weight nearly ripped his arms out of their sockets.

"GAAAH! WHAT THE HECK DID YOU PACK IN THIS THING? LEAD?!"

"Oh, knock it off you wimp," Rika huffed. "Since you've been going out with my partner, it's the least you can do." And with that, Rika strode right by him, head held high while John and Tapirmon watched her and sweat dropped. A shadow fell on them and they turned to its source.

It was Renamon.

"Good to see you, as always," Renamon said with a small smile as she helped John to his feet. "From what I overheard you'll be joining us on the cruise?"

John nodded. "That's right. Thought that I'd stop by and walk you guys there, and somehow I got dragged into bag carrying duty. Speaking of which, could you give me a hand here? Whatever it is that Rika's got in here it could sink the ship on its maiden voyage."

Renamon just looked at John and smiled before walking off and brushing his face with her tail, causing the boy to go through several shades of red before he started sputtering.

"Better hurry," said Renamon as she leapt up into the air. "The boat leaves in a couple hours."

"Oh, come on! RENAMON!!!"

The last thing John heard from the vulpine digimon before she phased out of sight was of her chuckling. John hung his head in defeat and groaned. Next to him Tapirmon tried to hold back a laugh.

"I guess it's true what they say," the digimon said. "Love hurts."

John growled. "Keep it up, Tapirmon and I'll digivolve you so that you can carry this thing yourself. And I won't even swipe a strength card to help you."

"WHA…? You wouldn't!"

"Watch me. Now give me a hand here."

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Chris was walking down the stairs dressed in his usual attire complete with his digimon partner sitting on his shoulder, and carrying one small suitcase. They were going to meet up with Ryan and Richoemon and together they were to catch the FanFic Express to the Odaiba docks where the ship was to leave. Simple right?

Chris was just about to open the front door and get going when suddenly there a hard knock rattled it. Blinking, Chris looked over at Caramon before slowly opening the door. What he found was the shock of his life. Ashley Brahms, standing on his front stoop and wearing the biggest smile he had ever seen anyone have in his entire life.

Chris suddenly felt worried.

"Hiii Chris," The girl said cheerfully. "I'm going to be joining you and Ryan on your vacation, but I need you two to help me with something."

"Uh… what…?"

"Oh, I _knew _that you'd agree. Thanks. Now let's go get Ryan." And with that, Ashley grabbed Chris by the arm and immediately started dragging him out the door, nearly upsetting Caramon's precarious balance from his spot on his partner's shoulder.

_Okay, I don't know what she had for breakfast, but it's **clear** that she needs to switch to something else,_ thought the little lizard digimon.

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Taichi, Davis, Takuya, and Koji stood outside the front door of the Kamiya residence and Taichi calmly knocked on the door and they waited. Earlier they had run into Kari Kamiya as she was walking with her friends from season two, and Taichi had asked if Tai was going to be coming on the trip. When she had replied that the former goggle wearing teen showed no interest in coming Taichi immediately took it upon himself to drag him out of his apartment against his will, and Davis volunteered to lend him a hand.

As for Takuya and Koji, well, they had anticipated this eventuality and were just arriving at the apartment at the same time as Taichi and Davis, though Taichi later heard that it was mostly from Takuya's insistence that they check up on Kamiya just in case he pulled something like this.

So now here they stood, waiting.

_Click._

The door finally opened and out poked the head of one Tai Kamiya, and as soon as he saw who it was he shut the door with a hard slam before any of them could get a word in edgewise. With a collective sigh, Taichi began banging on the door for a few minutes before finally turning to Davis, who smirked, gave Yagami the thumbs up and looked down at his partner, Veemon. The little blue reptile digimon cracked his knuckles and position himself in front of the door.

"VEE HEAD BUTT!"

_CRASH!_

The four Digidestined looked inside the Kamiya residence and sweat dropped.

"He certainly loses a lot of doors this way, doesn't he?" Said Takuya sarcastically.

Shaking his head, Taichi strode inside with his Agumon and headed towards Tai's room. "You guys stay here, the teenager said. "I'll be just a few minutes."

Takuya looked over at Koji. "You know, we could just spirit evolve and bring him with us."

Koji snorted. "Give me a break Takuya. If we do that, we'll cause even more trouble. It's bad enough that Davis had Veemon break down Tai's door, I don't think Agunimon setting fire to his apartment is going to help."

"Hey! Who said that I was going to set fire to his apartment?"

"You just did. Right now. Weren't you paying attention?"

"Why you…!"

Davis was just about to intervene when the familiar forms of Taichi and Tai exited the apartment. Tai had a bag, and oddly enough, a pleased look on his face, which was in stark contrast to Taichi, who's facial expression was enough to curdle milk.

"Um… that sure was fast," said Davis

"Mmmm…" grumbled Taichi as he set off with Tai right next to him. Koji, Takuya, and Davis quickly followed suit.

"So," began Takuya. "How did the great _Taichi Yagami_ pull this one off? I mean, here I was thinking that we would have to tie up Tai and drag…"

"That's such a stupid joke, Takuya," said Koji, shaking his head.

Takuya looked baffled. "Huh? I didn't know I was joking about something. What'd I say?"

"Never mind. It would only become worse. So, seriously Taichi. How did you get Tai to come along?"

"I'm not sayin'…"

"I made him admit that I'm a better soccer player than he is," said Tai Kamiya with a huge grin plastered onto his face.

Koji groaned and sweat dropped while Takuya and Davis stared incredulously at Taichi.

"Man," began Davis. "Talk about swallowing your pride."

Taichi growled and picked up his pace. "Let's just hurry up and get this over with, okay? And I don't want to hear _another _word about this! Not in front of me, and not in front of anyone else!"

"Oookay…"

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At the Odaiba docks…

"Remind me again how it was that I got dragged into this?" Asked a brown haired boy as he and a little orange dinosaur with Zebra stripped hair pulled one very large suitcase up a ramp that led to the ship. Nearby, Beetlemon from Frontier watched the scene and sweat dropped. Judging from the speed that they were going at, whatever was in that suitcase had to be very heavy, and he quickly hurried along to avoid being dragged into it himself.

"Oh, stop you're complaining, Ryan. The exercise is good for you…"

"Exercise? This is murder!" Exclaimed Ryan. "Why the heck does Ashley need to bring so much clothing? She's an anime character for Digimon for cryin' out loud! She only needs one set of clothes!"

"Yeah, I tried explaining that concept to her and she just looked at me blankly. After that, she gave me the _Sad Puppy_ _Dog Look_…"

"Yeah," said Caramon. "You folded like a deck of cards at that."

"You know," grunted Ryan as he tugged on the suitcase. "It bothers me that you can go up against fifty foot tall monsters with the power to level entire cities without batting an eye, and yet you come apart when a girl gives you the Sad Puppy Dog Look."

"The suitcases aren't getting on the ship any faster, Ryan."

"Ninety-nine suitcases of clothes on the wall, Ninety-nine suitcases…" Caramon sang.

"You're not helping…" growled Chris, before his face assumed a thoughtful look.

"Man, just how _did_ we get dragged into this?"

Ryan huffed as he pulled on the suitcase again. They were almost onboard with the first suitcase. "Don't ask me, _you _were the one who decided to give her a bowl of milk. It's your fault that we can't get rid of her now. Aaaagh! I'd almost give anything to have D-Leter show up and start wrecking some havoc, maybe take out Ashley in the process while everyone does their hero bit…"

Ryan's voice trailed off as Chris gave one final push on the suitcase, and sent it into Ryan's stomach, sending both him and Richoemon, with the suitcase crashing to the boat floor. Chris sweat dropped.

"Sorry."

Ryan took a deep breath, content to just lay on the floor for a bit and regain his energy. "Well, at least we made it onboard. Now if we can just convince Ashley to leave her other _six hundred and ninety-nine_ suitcases behind we'd be good to go."

"Ugh," spoke a voice from nearby. "How pathetic."

Ryan looked in the direction of the voice from his position on the ground and sighed. "Oh. Hey, Rika."

"Hey yourself," said the red haired girl as she took off her sunglasses. "What're you guys doing being someone else's servants?"

"I blame Chris," said Ryan, pointing at his friend.

"Hey!"

"Anyway," said Ryan. "What're you doing here? I didn't think that this sort of thing was your cup of tea, what with all the people around."

Rika _hmmmphed_ and crossed her arms. "After yesterday I felt the need to get away from _all_ authors. Seriously, that story was just plain degrading to be in."

"I don't know," said Ryan jokingly, his mouth becoming one goofy smile. "Despite the apocalyptic signs that it entailed, I thought that it was actually pretty funny seeing you in a dress."

Rika's eyes narrowed dangerously and Chris and Caramon looked at the boy as though he had lost his mind. _Are you insane?_ Mouthed Chris. Behind Ryan, his partner Richoemon proceeded to back up slowly.

Rika's mouth curved upwards in a frightening smirk and she turned around. "You know," she said. "I _was_ going to help you with the suitcases." And with that the Digimon Queen strode off. Ryan, Chris, Caramon, and Richoemon blinked.

"Hmmm…" said Chris. "She didn't hit you."

"I'm not complaining. Still, I do find it just a tad bit disturbing. Wonder if she's sick or something."

Chris grinned and nudged Ryan. "Hey, maybe she likes you."

Ryan glared venomously at Chris. "Knock it off. I don't believe that for a second. Just the very suggestion of it sounds wrong."

"You got another theory?"

"Yeah. I suspect Author influence or a double. Maybe both. Now come on. Let's get this stupid suitcase stowed and call it a day."

"Ashley's going to complain until our ears bleed you know…"

Ryan snorted. "At least then we won't be able to hear her."

Chris chuckled. "Good point."

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A short distance off, Ryo Akiyama and his partner Cyberdramon stood watching the two OC's with a strange look.

"Is it just me," asked Cyberdramon. "Or is that one kid _courting death_?"

Ryo whirled around and fixed his ultimate level partner with a look of surprise.

"Cyberdramon? Did you just make a joke?"

Cyberdramon grinned eerily.

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"Okay," said a humanoid dragon with fox ears to a young human girl named Kaio with her mythical cat partner Arbomon. "Got your toothbrush? Toothpaste? Extra clothes? Cell phone? Books to read? Clean…?"

"DIGI-DRAGON!!!" Shouted Kaio.

"I'm just making sure that you have everything. You know that I worry about you."

Kaio sighed. "If you were so worried about me then you wouldn't bother sending me into so many dangerous fics." Kaio looked at her author fiercely before her face softened.

"Sorry. It's just that you annoy me sometimes with the whole _motherly_ routine."

Digital-Dragon-Master grinned. "I know. That's why I do it. Now, are you sure that you have everything?"

"Yes," said the girl hefting her bag.

"All right then. Have fun, and remember to give me a call if something goes wrong."

Kaio sighed and rolled her eyes. "I will. Don't worry."

"Okay. Have a good time, try not to hurt anyone, stay safe, see you later, and…"

Kaio Griffen groaned and just turned around and ran towards the boat, with her partner chasing after her.

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The cruise ship pulled away from the docks with a large crowd of people waving goodbye to the characters assembled on the decks of the boat. The characters pressed up to the railing and waved back. Chris turned to Kaio, who was standing next to him.

"Hey, why are we even waving anyway? Half the people there aren't even authors. In fact, they're mostly faceless. We don't know any of them."

Kaio shrugged. "They're just here for the sendoff. Just run with it Chris. It's supposed to look good for a dramatic moment."

"You mean for that moment when we get lost at sea and hit an iceberg?"

Kaio frowned. "I think you've been watching too many movies, Chris."

As the boat sailed away, that glitch in the FanFic Domain's data pattern kicked in, and some music began, followed shortly by the lyrics. It had a strange, upbeat, almost fun sound to it that didn't seem to belong with the song's words, but it played nonetheless, and sounded strangely prophetic to everyone who paid attention. One character, Ashley Brahms listened intently and shivered before deciding to head below deck and escape the music.

_I see the bad moon arising_

_I see trouble on the way _

_I see earthquakes and lightnin'_

_I see bad times today._

_Don't go around tonight,_

_Well, it's bound to take your life,_

_There's a bad moon on the rise._

_I hear hurricanes are blowing_

_I know the end is coming soon_

_I fear rivers over flowing_

_I hear the voice of rage and ruin._

_Don't go around tonight,_

_Well, it's bound to take your life,_

_There's a bad moon on the rise_

_All right!_

_Hope you got your things together_

_Hope you are quite prepared to die_

_Looks like we're in for nasty weather_

_One eye is taken for an eye._

_Don't go around tonight,_

_Well, it's bound to take your life,_

_There's a bad moon on the rise._

_Don't go around tonight,_

_Well, it's bound to take your life,_

_There's a bad moon on the rise._

The ship sailed off towards the horizon, almost a symbol of hope for the future.

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Somewhere in cybernetic oblivion, a presence watched.

_It's almost time…_

8


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I **don't** own Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 10

Sarah, Mike, and Dean were waiting in the bushes outside of Mark's home since eight O'clock, waiting for his mother to leave. It had been two hours since they had gotten there, and she didn't seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere, despite what Mark's note had said yesterday. Selfishly, Mike thought that of all the things that he could be doing on this fine Saturday morning, besides homework that is.

"I thought that he wanted to see us," said Mike. "_Early_, the note said, and here it is ten O'clock and his mom still hasn't left yet. What the heck are we supposed to be doing? Twiddle our thumbs?"

"Patience," said Dean calmly. "She'll have to leave sooner or later…"

"Yeah, provided that she hasn't changed her plans."

"Mike," said Sarah harshly. "Will you _please_ shut up?"

"Yes, please," said a voice from behind them, startling the three children. "My mom might hear you."

All three of them turned around to see the pallid complexion of the once great Lord of Fantasy standing before them.

"How…" began Mike, but Mark cut him off.

"I used the back door. My mom might be able to keep you guys from seeing me, but she can't stop me from going outside when I want to. Hello _Dean_. Good to finally meet you, face to face."

"You look terrible Mark," said Dean. Mark's responding smile was almost like a grimace.

"I have you to thank for that, don't I? Peace, dude. I'm not here to start up any feuds. The fact that you've decided to check up on my well-being has earned you my respect, despite any harsh feelings that I might have towards you. And besides, I know that you'd say that I _deserved it_."

"Can we take this somewhere else?" Asked Sarah, hoping that the two boys wouldn't get into an argument.

"We wanted to see you, and you seem to want to see us…"

"Probably not for the same reasons, I'll wager," said Mark a little harshly. Sarah looked a little hurt.

"Now that's not fair," began Mike.

"_Fair_?" Said Mark. "What's _fair_? As Dean was kind enough to point out to me, life _isn't_ fair…"

"Enough!" Exclaimed Dean a little loudly. "None of us came here to fight. Well, maybe Mike did, but I didn't and I'm pretty sure that Sarah didn't either. Can we get past everything that's happened and focus on what's important, like maybe the friendship that you're supposed to have with these two?"

Mark applauded lightly. "Nice speech. Really, I mean it. Would've made for a good line in a story. You are right, but only in part. There _is_ something important that I wanted to discuss with you all, but with my mom home, and my own computer on the fritz, it would be difficult to explain things properly. I don't suppose that we can make use of any one of your computers, could we? And if any of you have laptops, it would be best that you get them so that we can hook them up for more processing power. I have a feeling that we're going to be needing a lot for this."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Why? What's going on?"

"More than you know…"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Very dramatic, Mark."

"My house is closest," said Sarah. "We can use that as our base of operations."

Mark nodded. "Let's get started."

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Apemon sat in a chair, resting as the boat sailed through the waters, on its way towards the distant vacation fic. It would take a full twenty-four hours just to get there, and they had already been sailing for a good five hours (having left the Odaiba docks at some point around eleven in the morning). Soon the sun would set and everyone would head inside the boat to either catch some z's or find something else to do with their spare time. At this point it didn't matter. Apemon, the digivolved champion form of Tapirmon, the partner to the Avatar/Tamer known as John, was content to just sit around and rest. He had helped John carry Rika's bag all the way to the ship, much to his dismay. John hadn't been kidding when he said that it was heavy. His arms nearly de-compiled when he tried lifting it (even with the aid of several strength and endurance modify cards), and the two had arrived exhausted. Oddly enough, the red headed tamer seemed unaffected by the weight of the bag.

_I must know her secret,_ Apemon thought. _How the heck is she able to carry something that heavy and not be affected by it?_

He had posed the question to his partner, who had simply shrugged and passed it off as one of the great mysteries of the universe, which didn't help much. Oh, well. Maybe he shouldn't be straining his brain cells trying to solve it. It was getting in the way of his suntan. Well, what little he could get with all that hair on his body. Sniffing in the warm air, he detected the smell of salt water, and a hint of cold air. Storm front? Taking off the sunglasses that he had been wearing Apemon looked out over the deck to see that yes, there were some storm clouds gathering. And at the front of the ship stood John, staring out over the ocean. After about a minute, the dark clouds pulled apart and vanished, becoming little more than water particles.

"Nice one, John," called out Apemon from his vantage point. "I'm sure Renamon will be impressed knowing that you can disperse weather patterns. What's your next trick? Raising a water monster from the depths of the ocean?"

John turned around and walked over to his friend and partner, glowering, though a faint blush tinted his face.

"Keep it up, pal," he said. "I may suddenly decide to mess around with your data patterns and turn you into a toad."

Apemon smiled as he put back on his sunglasses. "No you wouldn't, and you and I both know it. For one, it's in our contract…"

"Yeah, a contract that _I _wrote," said John. Apemon continued as though he hadn't heard him.

"… And it's against the rules. The FanFic Domain puts locks on author abilities so that they don't get all _Godlike_ on us fictional creatures who happen to live here. Not that you really could do that kind of stuff. Being only fan fiction writers, you can't affect what you do not own."

"Darn shame," said John grinning. "Otherwise I'd have you stuffed and mounted. And what's with the shades?"

"What do you mean? I find that they keep the sun out of my eyes."

"Uh-huh. Sure thing." John paused for dramatic affect. "Etemon."

"Wha…? Hey now! You promised that you wouldn't call me that!"

"Promises are like bread crumbs, Apemon. They're made to be broken."

Apemon got up and growled. "You are _so_ going to get it now…"

"Not if you want that _Banana Split_ when we get to the vacation spot."

"Is that why you've kept me in this form? So that you can mess with my appetite?"

"Nah. I just think that you look cooler this way. And since when do I need to mess with your appetite? You pretty much eat everything in all your forms. Except for when you go ultimate and mega. Your dining habits start getting a little warped at that point."

Apemon growled before settling back in his chair. John pulled a chair up next to him and sat down.

"So… do you think that Renamon would be impressed with my elemental abilities?"

"You are _incorrigible_," muttered Apemon as he took out a bottle of sun block and squirted some in his hand.

"Have I told you just how _great_ and _awesome_ a digimon partner you are?"

"Flattery won't get an answer out of me."

"You're right. Bribery does. How's two Banana Splits sound?"

"Then yes. I _do _think that Renamon will be impressed."

"Liar."

"Aw, nuts."

John laughed. "Don't worry pal. I'll still buy you a couple of 'em anyway. As a token of my appreciation for helping me out today with Rika's suitcase."

Apemon frowned. "Couldn't you have just used your author abilities to boost either yours or my strength? That would have made things easier."

"What're you talking about? I did!"

"Liar."

"Aw geez… keep it up and you'll lose a Banana Split."

"Oooh…"

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Chris watched was in what he had called the _Character Lounge_, by which he meant the place where the Canon Characters had set up shop on the ship and were currently engaged in various activities of entertainment ranging from movies to a game of pool, the latter of which had Tai Kamiya and Taichi Yagami at, once again striving to beat one another in their age old rivalry that never seemed to end. Looking around the room, Chris found quite the assortment of characters, almost all of them doubles of each other, Japanese and Dubbed. Two Sora's chattered away with two Mimi's and their respective partners, while Yamato and Matt with two Gabumon's practiced guitar and talked about old stories and adventures, laughing and having a good time. All the CC's from seasons one through two were on ship, and a couple doubles from the later seasons like Ruki Makino (and only because Ruki and Rika aren't allowed to be in the same room together, by decree of the FanFic Domain authorities), and Hirokazu Shioda (this last one especially stands out in Chris's mind because it was the only time he had ever seen Rika or Ruki visibly shiver when they found out that not one, but _two_ Kazu's were aboard. The funniest part of it was that _both_ Renamon's said that they found it _disquieting_, which coming from them was definitely a reason to give pause when thinking about the phenomenon). Beyond that, there really wasn't anyone else from the later seasons, and no one from Savers, but then they were still working on their series. A little sad, Chris felt, but that was that. Everyone had their own responsibilities in the end. Chris returned his attention to the pool table as Tai and Taichi continued to square off.

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"Eight ball in the corner pocket," said Tai as he leveled his pool stick.

"Um… I think that ball's supposed to go last Kamiya."

"I knew that. Just wanted to make sure that you were paying attention. Heh, heh…"

"…"

Tai hit the cue ball and it bounced off a red one with the label _15_ on it, and it went into a side pocket.

Taichi looked at his double and friend.

"So, you doing okay?"

Tai looked at Taichi. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," said Taichi. "You're still not taking what happened very well. I haven't seen you talk to Matt or Sora once since you've boarded ship. Are you avoiding them? I thought that you were better then that."

"Don't… _judge_ me," said Tai harshly. "I remember how you reacted when Sora decided to be with Yamato at the end of the series. I am _you _after all."

"I got over it though. And I didn't avoid my friends like you've been doing. Nor did I avoid the Taiora fics that continued to spring up even after the second season ended."

Tai glared angrily at his twin. "Except that you didn't just have your one wish come true, only to be snatched from you a second later." Tai leaned on his pool stick and glanced in Chris's direction with sad eyes. "I know what the OC's did was the right thing, heck, I was supporting it all the way when I found out that… well… I don't _hate_ them or anything. I just can't help but feel like I've been betrayed. It's weird. Davis still goes on, is still chummy with everyone, even the OC's as though nothing has happened, but I still see pain in his eyes. But he doesn't seem to be denying it at all…"

Tachi smiled softly. "That's because even though Davis can be stubborn, and on occasion dense, he has a big heart. He cares too much for his friends, for Kari and TK, to be affected by that sort of thing. Sure he hurts. He just went through the same thing that you did, but he'll never let something like that drag him down. Why should you?"

Tai smiled at his twin, but deep in his heart the seed of doubt lay.

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Dean and Sarah looked at Mark expectantly, waiting for him to say _something_ about what he knew. But he hadn't. He had just logged onto Sarah's computer and (with Sarah's permission) accessed her FanFic Domain account and began looking around the site, though for what he couldn't really tell. Whatever it was though, Mark looked a little tense about it. He seemed to be waiting on Mike to come back with a laptop to hook up to Sarah's computer, and then, hopefully then, the ball would get rolling at last. Time was ticking away and not much was said between the three kids.

_God, why did Mike have to live so far away,_ thought Dean irritably._ And why doesn't he just ask for a ride home or something? I really want to get this problem solved. And I want to know just how Mark's really doing. He doesn't show it, but he looks terrible._

Sarah had turned to look out the window and suddenly she stood up.

"Mike's here," she said and she dashed out of the room and headed towards the front door. Mark sighed.

"About time," he muttered. Mike and Sarah entered the room where Mark and Dean sat with Sarah's computer, unpacked the laptop, and quickly plugged it in and started it up. Mark brought out some connection cables and hooked them up before returning to Sarah's computer.

"Now," said Dean. "You've got what you asked for. You wanna tell us what you're looking for, and why?"

Mark turned to Dean and grinned. "What we're looking for is _very_ important. Data that was released during what you and the rest of the author's had dubbed the _Fable War_…"

"D-Leter?" Asked Dean suspiciously. Mark frowned.

"Hmmm… now that's something that I haven't thought of. Might be useful. But no, that's not what we're looking for."

"Than what?"

"First things first though," said Mark with a grin that said he had a secret. "The reason why it's important that we track this data down is because someone has gotten a hold of it. I noticed something going on when the author's blasted me away along with my _creation_, but didn't have a chance to really investigate. Being locked out of my account had something to do with it, and then my computer got hacked into and hit by a nasty virus program that tore up my defenses. Given that I was still in my Avatar form when all that happened, let's just say that the experience is not one that I'd like to repeat. Anyway, we must find the data and hopefully retrieve it, because whomever it is that has it has their hands on something powerful. And dangerous."

"You want to stop beating around the bush and get to the point already?" Demanded Mike a little hotly.

Mark smiled. It was a cold, humorless thing.

"We're looking for the data of Milleniummon."

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"_Everyone is in one place now, and far from the FanFic Domain. Now is the perfect time…"_

"_There are still some **unwanted** ones on board."_

"_We'll never get a better chance, though. If we wait any longer, someone will notice something's going on. This is the time. Do it! Do it, NOW!"_

"_Okay, okay. Take it easy. Sheesh."_

"_Soon, so very soon…"_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Rika Nonaka stepped out onto the deck and breathed the faint beginnings of the evening air. She was a little bit glad to be out here, even though she was a little bit miffed that she had to leave the room that she had been in.

_Stupid rule. Can't be in the same room with Ruki. I can't believe those people. Bunch of wimps. Grrr…_

Walking across the deck she looked out at the horizon as the sun sunk beneath the waves and she sighed.

"In some fics, this would be the moment where I would start singing _Promise of the Setting Sun_," she said with a touch of nostalgia.

"Pardon?"

Hiding her surprise Rika turned around slowly and found Ryan and Richoemon looking at her oddly.

"Nothing. Just something that my Dad taught me when I was a kid. What're you doing up here?"

Ryan shrugged. "I'm trying to find a couple friends of mine. Reno and Jane. You remember them? No one's seen them at all, and I would have figured that they would've jumped at the chance to get on this vacation. Especially Jane."

Rika smirked at that. She remembered Chris telling her once about how the OC known as _Raven_ had been stuck in the digital world, waiting for her author to do something with her. Last Rika had heard, the girl had been especially irritated with her creator and had verbally threatened him.

"Sorry," said Rika. "I haven't seen either of them, or their partners. Maybe they decided to stay home or something. Ever think of that?"

"Well, yeah," said Ryan shrugging. "I just thought that… ahhh, nevermind. It's not important I guess." Ryan scratched the back of his head as a look of frustration came over his face, and Rika smiled softly at it. He always seemed to get frustrated easily, and the look that he got when he did…

Rika's face softened as she looked at the boy.

"Hey Ryan?"

Ryan looked at Rika again and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Hmmm?"

"Can I talk to you about something?" She asked before looking over at Richoemon. "In private?"

Ryan frowned and shrugged. "Sure, I guess. Richoemon?"

The little orange dinosaur nodded in understanding and walked off to leave the two alone. Ryan walked up to Rika and the two leaned on the ship's railing.

"So, what's up?" Asked Ryan.

Rika didn't answer right away. She looked as though she were focusing hard about something, as though she were trying to find the right words for whatever she wanted to say.

"What was it like for you? Being dead I mean." She finally asked. Ryan looked at her confused.

_Why's she digging up that old bone?_ He wondered before realizing that he had just made a bad analogy.

"Um… I don't know how I can describe it really. Some of it I don't really remember. Going from being alive to dead and alive again kind of messed with my head a bit. I _do_ remember feeling tired though. That stands out in my mind the most. Why do you want to know?"

"Well…" began Rika, pausing as if she were measuring her words. "It's just that, when you died… Ugh, I don't know how to say this really. I'm not very good at it. You'd think that after all this time acting in other people's stories that I'd be a natural at this…"

Ryan began to feel a little uncomfortable while Rika was talking, but felt that it was best to just let her go on and not say anything that would make her mad.

"Anyway," continued Rika. "What I'm trying to say is that your dying hurt… hurt me. You matter to me Ryan…"

Now Ryan _couldn't_ say anything.

"… And I want you to know that I care about you. About what happens to you."

In a move that was completely and totally out of character for the fiery Tamer, Rika reached over and tentatively clasped one of Ryan's hands. Ryan found himself unable to meet Rika's eyes. A thousand feelings ran through his mind, everyone of them threatening to overwhelm his defenses. He hadn't been expecting this, not at all. It was so unlike Rika that the thought of author influence just seemed too much a strong possibility to ignore. But she sounded so sincere and… a faint memory came to him from the Fable War, when they had fought against the Dark Masters in Odaiba. Rika, as Sakuyamon, protecting him from a stray Giga Cannon blast, even though he had been dead at the time and he had promptly told her so. Ryan's theory, and hope, shattered like glass at the memory. Ryan closed his eyes tightly and swallowed.

_Oh man… how do you tell someone that you don't like them and not hurt them in the process?_

"Rika…" began Ryan before coughing to clear his throat. Suddenly his mouth felt so dry. "…Rika… I…"

And that was when fate chose that exact moment to intervene. Ryan felt a slight pressure in his brain before it happened. Probably some remnant from his time as a ghost perhaps but it didn't matter because he had only caught it a second before it happened.

Looking up, Ryan saw the sky filling with clouds, and slowly begin to swirl into a spiral like shape. Lightning danced around its edges as it began to pick up its pace.

"What the…?" Ryan heard Rika say distantly, having now seen what Ryan had sensed. A cabin door burst open and the author/Tamer known as John with his partner Apemon strode out onto the deck, frowning furiously at the phenomenon and growling under his breath. He raised his hands and closed his eyes in concentration as he attempted to disperse the storm.

Nothing happened.

"What…?" John's eyes shot open in surprise and suddenly the ship lurched as it was lifted from out of the water. Ryan stumbled and Rika tightened her grip on his hand, preventing him from falling. Shouts of surprise came up from within the bowels of the ship, everyone just about demanding to know just what the heck was going on. The lightning from within the storm intensified and reached out towards the vessel, and electricity surged all across the boat, enveloping everyone that was on board. One great flash of light later and the boat fell back into the water, empty of all life…

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The boat was empty. The only sign that it had ever been inhabited were the various belongings, food left about, and unfinished games that the characters been enwrapped in. A movie continued playing, even though there was no one to watch it. As the vessel continued to sail upon the waters, a voice echoed in the breeze that played over the deck.

_Go back…_

_Go back…_

… _To the beginning…_

…

…

…

The ship continued on towards its destination as though it were never interrupted.

9


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or even its concept, though I wish I did.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 11

_E-Mail to all authors…_

_To all writers,_

_Today, around five O'clock in the afternoon, the data banks of the Digimon Branch of the FanFic Domain on Digimon and Digimon related characters have gone missing, as well as relatives of main Digimon characters currently inhabiting and/or connected with this website. Attempts to reach the characters that are on vacation are being made to inform them of this occurance. If you have any information regarding this occurance, don't hesitate to contact the Domain Authorities at www…_

Fallen Angel stopped reading the E-mail and growled under her breath. _Just what the heck is going on here? It's like this site is falling apart or something. Despite all the rules and guidelines, despite the unspoken agreement of respect that we're **supposed** to show towards everyone, things **still** go wrong. First the Fable War, then I can't submit my stories, then the weird songfic glitch starts up, and now characters go missing! When will it all end?_

Fallen Angel took a moment to look up at the sky. _Until someone gets this mess cleared up I'm going to be sooo bo…_

Fallen Angel stopped and frowned. There was something about the sky that was different. There appeared to be an orb floating in the sky as though it were a second moon. It kind of looked a little bit like the way that the Earth was portrayed in the third season of Digimon, only without all the data streams.

_Okay,_ thought Fallen Angel._ I'm positive that wasn't there before…_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_"We have them. They're ours now, and there's nothing that the authors can do about it. They're all ours!"_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Chris slowly opened his eyes and blinked before he sat up. His partner, Caramon, slid off his stomach as though he were a rag doll, plopping to the ground with a thud and earning the boy a groan from the little lizard. Chris took a look around him. He seemed to be in a jungle of sorts, though the vegetation varied to such an impossible extent that it shouldn't have belonged in this sweltering climate, or even the soil. Getting to his feet, Chris shook his partner awake (over the digimon's complaints) and soon had him sitting on his accustomed spot, Chris's shoulder, once again. Deciding that it was best to take a look around Chris began walking. It was a little dark out, nighttime. Strange cries echoed through the air that seemed to be a mix of animal and human, or perhaps a combination of both.

_Digimon?_ Chris wondered.

There was also another noise, a sort of whistling noise. Frowning Chris listened closer, and discovered that there wasn't just one whistling noise, but a _lot_ of them. Multiple ones, and he couldn't tell from what direction, or what they were. Chris was just about to give up and continue onwards when Caramon tugged on his shirt.

"Chris," the little lizard said. "Look up at the sky."

Chris did, and his eyes went wide. For a moment he forgot that he was supposed to breathe, to move, heck, to do _anything_. Shock ran through his system, and for the time being he was immobilized.

Framed against the light of a full moon was the source of all those whistling noises. There were rings, hundreds of ring shaped objects flying through the sky.

As Chris watched, he saw one dart away from the main group and begin chasing after what looked like a Unimon.

_No way,_ was all Chris thought._ No way…_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_"We still have the **undesirables **to deal with, or have you forgotten about them?"_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Kaio and Arbomon stood on a cliff, overseeing a forest that had a tall, black tower sticking out of it. Blinking in confusion Kaio turned to her partner, who looked back at her, obviously just as confused as she.

"Okay, someone come and bring me back to earth now, 'cause I am so _totally_ lost," said Kaio irritably.

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_"It matters not. They'll find out that what they're capable of doing is not only going to be their limitation, but also their downfall. And if they do prove to become troublesome, the system will find a way to remove them. One way, or another."_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_I knew it!_ Ryan screamed in his mind as he closed his eyes against the sudden blast of light._ I knew the end was coming, and Rika has just confirmed it! Worse, I'm the cause of it! Next time I see her, I'm going to tell her that there's no way that it's going to work out! She may kill me, but I think that it'd be a small price to pay to save the world! And besides, she can only kill me once… hold that thought. This would twice for me! Aaagh! Why, oh **why** did she have to tell me that?! I don't even like her that way…_

Impact with the ground suddenly cut off that train of thought, and then Ryan knew no more.

…  
…

A short time later, Ryan awoke and got up with a groan. His head was killing him, and next to him lay… Richoemon? _Wasn't he… elsewhere? Yeah, real definitive, Ryan. And where's Rika? Wasn't she next to me when that flash of light went off?_

Ryan shook his partner awake and brought out his digivice and activated the scanning program. Ryan furrowed his brow in confusion. _Something's not right here,_ he thought.

"Ryan?" Asked Richoemon. "Is everything alright?"

Ryan shook his head. "No, I don't think so. Something's really wrong here. Somehow we wound up in…"

Before Ryan could finish that sentence, his digivice suddenly shrieked as it picked up an incoming signal, and a second later a voice rang out in the air as something collided with Richoemon and sent him crashing to the ground with a cry.

"POWER PAW!"

Ryan looked around bewilderedly.

"What the…?"

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_"We still have to follow the same format though despite the minor changes that we make along the way. It was the only way that we could get the data to work for us."_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

John and Apemon checked their surroundings before looking at each other, surprise clearly written on their faces.

"This is unexpected," said John.

"Give the man a prize," muttered Apemon under his breath.

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_"Of course, of course. It doesn't matter right now. The story, the OC's… they don't matter. What does is we have **them**. They're ours now…"_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Ashley Brahms stood in what looked like an open field with thousands of Poyomon floating in the air and giggling like the Fresh level digimon that they were. There was something else too. Looking down, Ashley spied what looked like tracks. Train tracks.

The sound of a train whistle blowing from behind caught her attention.

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_"… All ours. And we have the Lord of Fantasy to thank for it."_

3


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: No, seriously, I-_don't-_ own Digimon. Really.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 12

Second Arc: 01

**As it was Written in the Beginning, 'And so it Begines…'**

Jane and Munnimon ran (well, Jane ran, Munnimon flew) through the forest in what seemed like a creepy reenactment of an episode of Digimon. The reason for their flight? A large, angry, orange beetle like digimon named Kuwagamon was flying after them and they had absolutely no time to digivolve in order to face this threat. Ironically, Jane wasn't focused on being afraid, but then that may have stemmed from the fact that she knew Munnimon could take a Kuwagamon with hardly any trouble at all if she could only find time to digivolve to champion. At the moment though, only one thought was dominant in her thinking: just how weird a turn her day had just gone!

_First that Reno kid and his Dagmon get attacked by some strange entity that looks like television static, then it attacks me, and the next thing I know I wind up in **Alice in Digiland**, or some thing like that! I should have listened to my gut and **not** have bothered to go looking for Ryan or Chris and just stayed bored. Rrrgh… I am **so** going to kill those two the next time I see them!_

"**Crescent Wing!**" Shouted Munnimon as she suddenly rolled in the air until she was facing the giant insect, and slashed her wings downward, releasing twin violet energy blades that struck the Kuwagamon dead on its armored head, making it scream in pain and change its flight path. Just barely though. The insectoid hit the little bird digimon with one of its claws and sent her crashing into a tree. Unable to help her friend right away, Jane dropped to the ground and Kuwagamon soared over her, kicking up enough wind to make Jane's hair blow in her face. Banking to the side, Kuwagamon took back to the air and circled around. It's pincers parted and it dove towards Jane just as she began to get back up to her feet. Looking up, Jane's grayish blue eyes widened and her body tensed, preparing to leap away even though she knew full well that she didn't have enough time to do it. Better to die making the attempt then to sit there like some stupid, damsel-in-distress.

**"Shadow Piercer!"**

No sooner than Jane feet had left the ground that a massive, wolf like digimon crashed into the Kuwagamon, its claws rending its carapace with a fierce intensity that was frightening to behold. Jane rolled on the ground and got up into a crouch, standing on the balls of her feet and took in the display.

_That looks like Lunasmon,_ thought Jane as she took out her digivice and activated the analyzer program. What she got only confirmed what she already knew.

**Lunasmon **

**Stage: Champion**

**Type: Virus**

**Special Attacks: Shadow Piercer, Were Bite**

_Well that's something,_ thought Jane as she looked away from her digivice. _At least it looks like Reno's in the area. Now, where's Munnimon?_

Looking around she quickly saw her partner jump into the air where she had crashed, heading towards the battle and slashed again with her wings in an attempt to aid Lunasmon.

**"Crescent Wing!"** Munnimon shouted, and once again twin energy blades erupted from her feathers and hit Kuwagamon, who was trying to catch Lunasmon in a Scissor Claw lock, but was having a hard time doing that and dodge Lunasmon's Were Bite attack at the same time. Roaring once again, this time in frustration, Kuwagamon knocked Lunasmon to the side and leapt into the air, its great insect wings unfolding from its back. Jane readied her digivice, thinking that it was just circling about again, but soon relaxed. It didn't look like the Kuwagamon was interested in coming back for a second round with them. Jane clipped her digivice back onto her belt and walked over to Lunasmon, just as Munnimon flew over to the girl and plopped herself into her arms.

"Whew," said Munnimon. "That was a close one. You okay?"

Jane nodded. "Yeah, and you? It looked like you took a pretty bad hit there earlier…"

"I'm fine," said Munnimon as she stretched her wings and yawned. "I could do with a little shuteye though. Those fights can take a lot out of you."

"You might not want to do that," said Reno's voice as he stepped out of the bushes and walked up to Dagmon, having just de-digivolved from his champion form of Lunasmon. "I saw you get hit too. You might have a concussion."

"I'm… **fine**!" Growled Munnimon. Jane gave her partner a slightly irritated look.

"Munnimon," she said. "Don't knock Reno, got it? He's just showing you a little concern, and frankly I think that he may be right. You did get a little roughed up back there, you should rest a bit."

"Mmmmnnn…" groaned Munnimon in frustration. Jane ignored this and looked over at Reno.

"Okay," Jane said. "I was a little stumped as to where we are earlier, but after that attack from the Kuwagamon, I've got a pretty good idea…"

Reno nodded. "We're in the digital world."

"Yeah, I guessed that. Only there's something's weird about it."

Reno raised an eyebrow. "Something weird about the digital world? That's a surprise. Wonder what it could be…"

Jane gave the boy a look that could do Rika justice. Even Dagmon looked a little uncomfortable under her glare. "Don't be sarcastic, Reno. I'm serious here. I tried to use my digivice to get back home but it didn't work for some reason."

"You can do that?"

"It's written into our characters. Anyway, the data doesn't seem to want to work with me here, and that bothers me. And then there's that thing that attacked us earlier…"

"Yeah," said Reno. "That was really weird. I met it earlier back in Shinjuku before you showed up and I got into a tussle with it. It disappeared shortly thereafter. I get the feeling that someone didn't want it playing about."

"Weird," said Jane as she furrowed her brow in concentration. "Well, whatever it is, it looks like it's made the digital world our prison." Jane smirked. "Hardly a good plan now that I think about it. Authors and Digidestined visit this place all the time, so we should be out of here in short order."

"That depends on where we are," spoke up Dagmon. "We could be anywhere in the digital world, and there are even some places that authors don't know about, other evils that haven't been discovered…"

"You have a point," said Reno. "But there is also the fact that sooner or later, someone's bound to notice that we're missing and come looking for us. Our homes will be the first place that they look for…"

"Followed by our fics," said Jane.

"… And the digital world will follow not to long after that. It's simply a matter of time." Reno looked thoughtful for a second. "It's almost too easy. If whatever it was that attacked us and sent us to the digital world is the product of some mysterious outside force and not just another corruption of the FanFic Domain's data code from the Fable War, why here? Why not just create a special prison for us and lock us there? It's too weird. Too inconsistent. And then there was what it kept saying…"

Jane frowned. "Wait. It _said _something?"

Reno nodded. "Yeah. It said, _'go back'_. Any ideas come to mind?"

Jane thought for a moment and shook her head. "The only thing that I can think of is the Wendigomon from the _Our War Game_ movie. That's what it said when it kept chasing after Willis."

"Hmmm…" Jane pondered on what this could mean, but she came up with nothing. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm thinking that we should at least get a move on, search for any locals and ask them about this. Maybe we should try tracking down one of the Sovereigns; they're usually pretty tight with authors chances are they'll know a lot more…"

"Um… yeah, sure," said Reno. "Just one question: how do we find the Sovereigns?"

Jane stopped in her tracks and turned towards Reno, her eyes flashing in the sunlight. "One problem at a time, Reno. One problem at a time…"

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Far from the two humans and digimon, a dark, shadowed figure stood on a mountain ledge, watching them as they made their way through the forests.

_This is unexpected. I was under the impression that there would be more of them. Perhaps the prophecy was wrong…_

Something caught the shadow creature's attention and it looked towards the sky. Seven lights fell to the island that made up this small portion of the digital world. The dark entity watched them complete their descent towards into the islands forests.

_Perhaps not after all,_ it thought. _But then, who are they? They can make digimon digivolve, but they arrived **before** the others, so who and what are they? _

Turning its gaze towards the fleeing Kuwagamon, a thought came to mind.

A second later a dark colored, gear shaped object flew through the air at a rapid speed and imbedded itself into the insectoid's carapace. The creature screamed in pain before descending towards where the lights had fallen.

_Let's see what they can do. I had best keep a close eye on them, especially the first two children. They represent an unknown factor in my plans. Especially if more should come._

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Jane and Reno hadn't been walking for very long when the sounds of trees being torn down reached their ears. Both of them tensed up and got to the ground, scanning the area for potential hostiles. Jane got out her digivice and activated the scanning program. It immediately brought up several signals, one of them clearly that of a high level digimon. Focusing on it, the digivice displayed the stats of the digimon.

**Kuwagamon**

**Stage: Champion**

**Type: Virus**

**Special Attacks: Scissor Claw, Power Guillotine**

_Okay,_ thought Jane. _By the looks of things, Kuwagamon has found some new enemies to play with. The other signals are a combination of low-level digimon and… humans? I wonder…_

Jane looked at her partner, who nodded and jumped out of her arms. As soon as she landed on the ground, Jane's digivice glowed and a sphere of data surrounded the little bird digimon.

"MUNNIMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

"ROCMON!"

The sphere shattered, revealing a large bluish-black colored bird with white tinted wings. The champion digimon lifted off into the air and Jane leapt at the last second, catching hold of its clawed feet. Reno watched in stunned amazement.

"Raven… May I ask _what the heck are you DOING?"_ Reno had to shout that last part, as Jane was now getting out of range for normal conversation.

"KUWAGAMON'S ATTACKING SOMEONE THAT COULD HELP US! BETTER HURRY UP IF YOU WANT A PIECE OF THE ACTION!"

Reno blinked his eyes as the giant bird flew off towards their enemy.

_She sounded like she was actually excited to go jumping into battle,_ Reno thought as he raised his D-Comp.

"Dag, you'd better digivolve."

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Kuwagamon ripped through the trees using his giant pincers. He wasn't being especially neat about it, but then, he didn't have to. All he knew was that he had to destroy the children. The weakest ones first, the others… later. He especially wanted to destroy this group because some stupid little pink ball had actually thought that it could go toe to toe with him. And the _indignity _of being hurt by such a weak attack as a bunch of _bubbles_! They should suffer for it, but he would give them a quick death. The need to destroy them was so overwhelming that it went beyond just the desire to take revenge! This was no time for games. This was only the predator and its prey, and to the victor went the spoils of battle. It followed the little pink digimon as it landed near a strange looking creature with… what _was_ that thing on its head? It was brown, large, and _all over_ the place! And then there were what looked like a second set of eyes. No matter, it would soon be meaningless data anyway. Nothing to worry about…

**"Corona Wing!" **Shouted a voice and something rammed into the Kuwagamon from the side. Something _white_-_hot_ tore through its side and the insect screamed in pain before taking off into the air to gain altitude and recover from the blow. The creature, a large bird, was giving chase. Hissing in annoyance, the Kuwagamon strained its wings to gain some distance.

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Jane had jumped off of her partner's leg and landed on a tree branch (almost falling off and scraping her knees and elbows in the process) before climbing down and running over to the kid that the Kuwagamon had been attacking. The kid was holding what looked like a Koromon in his hands and looking up at the sky in amazement as Rocmon and Kuwagamon went at it. There was also something familiar about the kid too…

"Hey!" Jane called out. "You all ri…?"

Jane stopped as the boy turned around and met Jane's eyes. He looked to be about twelve years old, hair large and bushing out in all directions, and was only kept out of his brown eyes by a blue headband and goggles that he had strapped around his forehead. He also wore a blue t-shirt with orange stars on the sleeves, and light gray gloves covered his hands. Jane soon found her voice again, but it came out sounding surprised as well as joyous as she spoke the kid's name.

"Tai?"

Tai's face went from one of puzzlement to sheer confusion.

6


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I think that it's safe to say, that anything that I write for this site, is going to involve something that I don't own.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 13

Second Arc: 02

**The Emperor's New Cloak**

Terror seemed to be the dominant atmosphere in the night. Rings flew through the air, and the digimon retreated before them; but no matter how far or how fast they ran, flew, dug, or swam, the rings quickly found their target and snapped closed around necks, wastes, arms, wherever they could find purchase. And when it was over, a digimon would rise with an eerie red glow in its eyes.

A small, catlike digimon ran through the forest, obviously panicked over something, and with good reason. Behind her flew a dark ring. Once it latched around her neck, she could kiss her free will good bye. She leapt into the air, her tail arching to meet the ring as it neared her. A small, golden, ring shaped object around the cat's ring glowed as it came into contact with the larger, and darker colored one, and there was a flash of light. A second later, the cat digimon landed on the ground, and a lifeless ring-like collar landed next to her. Almost trembling, the little digimon looked at her tail ring and breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was close," she said shakily. Behind her, a crimson light glowed, and the cat, sensing something behind her, turned to see a unicorn like creature preparing to fire a glowing sphere like ball from its mouth. The cat like digimon started to scream, anticipating to be hit from the attack.

**"Needle Shot!"**

_Wha…? That's not Unimon's attack._

As the cat watched, a green energy bolt resembling a spike hit the Unimon dead on its head, throwing its attack off course (just barely though). Turning, both digimon saw a little lizard and a blonde haired boy wearing a black and blue hoody arrive onto the scene. The boy brought out a strange looking digivice and the lizard crouched down and spoke.

"CARAMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

The little lizard stopped, as though he was waiting for something to happen, but nothing was going on. The boy behind him looked a little surprised that nothing was happening.

"Um… Chris?" said the lizard who had identified himself as Caramon. "Not to rush you or anything, but shouldn't you be…?"

**"Aerial Attack!"**

Moving on pure instinct, the cat digimon leapt towards the two and shoved them both out of the way, taking the blow meant for them herself, and she fell to the ground with a cry.

Chris was a little bit stunned by this, but his partner, Caramon took no time to be affected by the sudden movement. Leaping onto the Unimon's back, Caramon began biting viciously, causing the Unimon to scream and start bucking up and down like a horse or bull at a rodeo show.

_Ride 'em, Caramon,_ thought the little lizard sarcastically as he held on for dear life.

Chris looked back and forth between the battle and his rescuer.

_There's something really weird going on here,_ he thought. _I just got saved by a Gatomon. In fact, right up until Caramon and I showed up, move for move this seems to be an exact replica of the first digimon episode from season two. Plus I can't seem to digivolve Caramon, so that certainly lends credence to that theory so… oops! Gotta go._

Chris rolled to the side, barely avoiding another attack from the Unimon, who had chosen that moment to ignore the lizard digimon that was on his back and gnawing away. Chris got to his feet, tension filling his body as the Unimon again locked on to him.

_Aw nuts,_ Chris thought as he closed his eyes.

**"Aerial Attack!"**

**"Lightning Paw!"**

Chris felt a wind blow by him as the attack once again narrowly missed him. Opening his eyes, he saw the Gatomon that he and Caramon had rescued was once again returning the favor by attacking the Unimon. Chris gripped his digivice as his mind kicked into high gear.

_Okay, let's think this through here. If we somehow wound up in an Adventure 02 fic, never mind the fact that we're supposed to be on vacation, then it stands to reason that Ken or a Control Spire is around preventing digivolution. That pretty much makes me useless unless… hmmm…_

Chris closed his eyes and held his digivice close to his chest. He didn't know that much about how data worked, but he did know that his digivice could manipulate it to an extent. All digivices could, but they were also capable of so much more than what everyone saw on the TV show. If he could _change_ his partner's data even a little bit, maybe, just maybe, he could break the lock that was on his digivice.

Chris's sense of the world narrowed. Distantly he heard the sounds of battle, but they meant nothing to him. All he could think of was his partner and his digivolution.

_Dracaramon…_ The image of Caramon's champion form filled his mind and a warm current crossed the palm of the hand that held the digivice. It began to glow.

Gatomon went into a roll, trying to avoid the Unimon's hooves as they stamped the ground in an effort to crush her. Suddenly the Unimon cried out and heaved, throwing the digimon known as Caramon to the ground. Raising a hoof, the Unimon prepared to stomp on the little lizard. Getting to her feet, Gatomon readied herself to leap at their mutual foe, but she knew that she'd be too late to save Caramon.

The hoof began to descend.

But before it could land, Caramon's form phased slightly, as though for a brief moment it was no longer a part of the same plain of existence. A sphere of data formed around him, and words could be heard spoken from it.

"CARAMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

"DRACARAMON!"

The sphere shattered, and a massive, quadruped-legged reptile emerged, slashing out with its claws and knocking the Unimon's hoof to the side before leaping backwards. The scales on his body parted, revealing hidden compartments filled with needle-like spines, and with a cry they shot out from his body.

**"Scale Blaze!"**

The spines imbedded themselves into the Unimon, who cried out in pain once again. Taking advantage of this distraction, Gatomon leapt onto the Unimon's back and with one mighty swipe from her paw, the dark ring around around the Unimon's neck shattered, and the horse like digimon fell to the ground with a groan. Jumping off, Gatomon looked over at Dracaramon first, nodding respectively to him before turning to Chris.

"Are you a Digidestined?" She asked. Chris frowned in confusion and blinked.

"That's a weird question to ask Gatomon. You know I'm not. Or at least I think that you know that. Are you the same Gatomon that's partnered with Kari, the Digidestined of Light?"

Gatomon nodded. The strange boy had gotten Hikari's name partially wrong, but that didn't really matter at the moment. She was curious as to how the boy knew her partner's name. Before she could post the question though, something caught her eye.

"RUN!" Gatomon shouted. Dracaramon turned and, once he saw what Gatomon had seen, he jumped to the side and barely dodged a dark ring as it flew by him. Opening a scale compartment, Dracaramon shot out a couple spikes and they shattered the dark ring. Crouching down, Dracaramon allowed Chris to get onto his back and they looked around for Gatomon, who was ushering them to move quickly. Dracaramon started to move when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw another ring make its way towards him. Dracaramon took off, running for all he was worth. Chris leaned to the side and stretched out his hand, grabbing hold of Gatomon's paw and hauling her aboard. The ring continued to chase after them relentlessly, maneuvering with uncanny intelligence, giving Gatomon's tail ring wide birth before sailing towards Dracaramon. Dracaramon's eyes widened in shock and he leapt upwards to avoid it, but to no avail. The ring snapped closed around his neck, making him jerk and fall to the ground, throwing his riders Chris and Gatomon off his back and to the ground.

Chris rolled to his back with a groan and took a look at his friend as the great reptile rose to his feet. His eyes were glowing with a fierce crimson light.

_That's not good,_ thought Chris.

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Kaio and Arbomon kept themselves concealed as they approached the Control Spire. They weren't sure how they had wound up in the digital world with one of the Digimon Emperor's old toys staring her in the face. It was strange. By the looks of things, Kaio would think that she had wound up in a season two fic, but last she checked, lightning storms of the type that she had seen out of her cabin's window weren't characteristic of an author making contact with a character with a proposition. Usually they went through all the regular channels, like E-Mail, or going up to your door like a demented salesman bugging you to buy their product (the latter of which many characters, Kaio included, enjoyed chasing away with a baseball bat). Kaio and Arbomon halted at the edge of the bushes that had them hidden. They were still a little far off to make anything out.

"Well, Kaio?" Asked Arbomon. "Got an idea as to what's going on here?"

Kaio shook her head. "Not really. The closest thing that I have to a theory is that we might be in a fic, but I don't understand why it happened. I'm thinking though that we should ask some of the locals."

"Is that a good idea?"

"Probably not, but it would go a long way towards proving my theory as to whether or not we're in a fic."

Arbomon nodded nervously, and the two stepped out of the brush and approached the tower. Kaio dug into her card box and brought out some cards. Even though they were still a ways off, she could tell that they had already been noticed. Kaio looked through the cards that she had brought along and thumbed the digivice card. She wasn't sure if it would work in the Control Spire's presence since in the show it halted regular digivolution, but she was also a Tamer, which might make her immune to the towers affects.

_No time like the present,_ thought Kaio as she saw a large number of Bakemon and Gizamon running (and floating) towards her. Kaio raised her arms to get their attention and called out to them.

"HEY!" She yelled. "WE WERE WONDERING IF YOU COULD HELP US…!"

**"Zombie Claw!"** Shouted one of the Bakemon and a long dark claw stretched towards them. Kaio and Arbomon dodged to the side.

_Well, guess that answers that question,_ thought Kaio as she slashed the digivolution card through her D-Arc.

"DIGI-MODIFY! DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

Kaio and Arbomon waited. Nothing happened.

"Uh oh," began Arbomon as the closest Gizamon leapt towards them and gang piled the cat rookie. Kaio ran towards them and tried to tear them off of her, but it wasn't really helping, even with Arbomon slashing away with her Starlight Slash attack. One Gizamon knocked Kaio to the side and joined the rest in the attack on Arbomon. Kaio rolled with the blow, but dropped her cards to the ground. Reaching towards them, she grabbed the first one and slid it through her D-Arc, hoping that it was one that could help her partner.

"DIGIMODIFY!" She yelled as she glanced at the picture on the card. Smiling at the irony of it, Kaio completed the slashing. "DIGI-EGG OF COURAGE ACTIVATE!"

The pile of Gizamon that had pinned Arbomon suddenly began to rise.

A-R-M-O-R-D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N 

"ARBOMON! ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

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The Digimon Emperor watched his screens with great interest. The newcomers were certainly surprising him. The one boy had somehow managed to digivolve his partner to the Champion level despite the power of his dark digivice, while the girl had done something… unusual with that strange device and card that she had, and activated something called _Armor Digivolving_. All very strange and quite unexpected. Not that he minded at the moment. He enjoyed a good challenge. There was so little in the world nowadays that could entertain him like that anymore. He would win in the end, he always did. But what mattered was _how long_ it would take.

"Armor Digivolve, huh," said the Digimon Emperor grinning. "They're more resourceful than I thought."

He turned towards the screen with the blonde haired boy. An Agumon and a teenage boy with large hair and goggles was running towards the Gatomon and the two strangers (the Dracaramon he found to be quite _intriguing_. He had never heard of such a species before). There was nothing that they could do. So long as he held control of the only digimon in their group able to digivolve, they were helpless.

Suddenly, the readings from the dark ring shackled to the Dracaramon went off the scale as the blonde haired boy's digivice glowed. There was a bright light emanating from the Dracaramon as well, and a second later all information coming from that dark ring stopped. The Digimon Emperor rose in his chair in surprise as he gaped at the unexpected turn of events.

"Wha…? But how…?"

On the screen, the Dracaramon had changed form; this time adopting a cybernetic form with twin laser cannons perched on its back. It had a dark gray tone to its overall appearance, and its eyes kept the same crimson glow that it had earlier. The new digimon announced its new name, Metal Dracaramon, for the entire world to hear, and pointed its twin laser cannons towards the sky, where Ken's view screen was giving him an aerial view of the situation. Metal Dracaramon growled in a low, guttural, animal sound.

"LASER DISCHARGE!"

The screen went dark, and the Digimon Emperor collapsed in his chair.

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Chris was unaware of the goggle wearing teen that had joined them. Right now, he was all eyes for his partner, who seemed to have taken a wrong turn down the digivolving road. He had hoped that by digivolving Dracaramon to Ultimate would disrupt the dark rings control over him, but now he was wondering if he had just traded the devil he knew for the devil he didn't. As he watched Metal Dracaramon blast something out of the sky, Chris gulped.

_Here's hoping that he doesn't see us as a nice snack,_ thought Chris as he took an unconscious step back. Behind him, Gatomon advanced, ready to defend all of them if need be, and Agumon also stepped up to the plate. Metal Dracaramon looked back at the group and smiled evilly. Rather, Chris fancied that he did.

_I can't believe that it's going to end like this…_

6


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: No one here claims to own Digimon. Unless they _want_ to be sued that is.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 14

Second Arc: 03

**Ryan Comes Alive**

John and Apemon looked around, taking in their surroundings, wondering just how it was that they had gotten there, or rather, had gotten back there. One minute they were out on the high seas getting electrocuted, and the next? Well, let's let John explain things in more detail.

"Well, it looks like we're back in Shinjuku," said the Avatar/Tamer to Apemon. "On the edge of Shinjuku Park to be more specific."

"Any idea as to how we got here?" Asked Apemon as he sniffed the air.

John shook his head. "Not a clue, but I'm getting a strange sense about the atmosphere of the place. I can't quite put my finger on it though…"

"Why's a strange sense of yours important? Shouldn't we be looking for the others?"

John sighed. "That's _if_ they happen to be in the area, but your point does have some merit to it. We should try and see if we can hook up with the others, or at least find a payphone so that we can call the Domain Tower and appraise them of the situation."

There suddenly followed a massive explosion from within the park, causing John and Apemon to both sweat drop.

"…Or we could start with the explosion and take it from there," said Apemon finally.

"Sounds like a good place to start," said John.

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A short time earlier…

Richoemon crashed to the ground with a cry as a yellow blur smashed into him and somersaulted in the air. Ryan's eye, long used to having to keep track of unidentifiable blurs of the digimon kind, followed its course until it landed on a tree branch, stopping long enough for him to see a familiar form materialize. Ryan's face broke into a wide smile as he recognized the kitsune digimon that now crouched in the tree across from him. Despite the fact that she had just laid the smack down on his partner (for no apparent reason that he could see) he was happy to see…

"RENAMON!" He called out. "Wow. I gotta say that it's good to see you again, though I have to admit pounding Richoemon wasn't exactly a nice way to greet us. A simple _hi, hello, how are you,_ or even a greeting card would more than suffice you know."

"What the heck are you babbling about, you idiot?" Asked a cold, insulting voice that Ryan recognized all too well. Looking below from where Renamon was perched, Ryan's eyes rested on the familiar form of Rika Nonaka, who was looking at him with a harsh expression on her face, with only a slight trace of confusion to go along with it. Ryan mostly ignored this since he was used to her weird little quirks and oddities, as well as her insulting tone. Still, she did come off a little bit more cold than usual. And there was something else as well. Ryan's eyes narrowed as he looked closely at the red headed Tamer who stood across from him.

_That's weird. When did she start wearing that broken heart t-shirt again? She wasn't wearing it when I saw her earlier. Was she?_

"Hi, Rika," said Ryan carefully. The girl cocked her head to one side, surprised that the boy even knew her name and spoke it, and her partners, in so familiar a tone. "I figured that you wouldn't be that far behind. After all, you and Renamon are practically sisters. Did you have to order her to hit my partner though?"

"YEAH!" Shouted Richoemon from his place on the ground. "THAT JUST WASN'T VERY NICE!"

Ryan turned to the tiger striped dinosaur. "Richoemon? What have I told you before?"

"_That Rika is not known for being nice_," intoned Richoemon as though he were reciting a well-versed lesson.

"Exactly."

Rika watched the pair's exchange, feeling more than a little bit weirded out by it. The way that these two talked was as if they knew her. But she had never seen them before in her life! Well, maybe she had, amongst the faceless drones that she had fought during the tournament. Not that it mattered though, and what was it that the boy had said about her and Renamon being _sisters_? Rika practically scoffed at the idea. Digimon were data, and nothing more! To think that they could be anything else was… _pointless_. Rika's eyes narrowed and she stepped forward.

"Whatever morons," she said, her voice like a serrated icicle. Ryan looked back at Rika at the sound of it, his face looking honestly surprised. "It's time to fight. Now clam up and get ready for a beating you'll never forget. Renamon…"

"Whoa," said Ryan, interrupting the girl. "Hang on! What's going on here? Why are we fighting?"

Rika's glare became almost razor like in its deadliness, and Ryan fought back the urge to flinch. Something was _seriously_ wrong here, and he hoped to get to the bottom of it before the situation spun out of control.

"Is there something wrong with your brain?" Demanded Rika in a tone so hard rocks could shatter on it. "This is what digimon do. They fight. That is what they are meant to do and nothing else. You two are just _our_ stepping stones to being the strongest there is."

"Wha…?" Began Ryan as he suddenly looked a little perplexed. He turned to Richoemon, who was just getting back to his feet. "Is it just me, or does it seem like someone here has just done a complete one-eighty with their personality since we last saw her?"

Richoemon looked from Ryan to Rika, looking at her carefully. Yes, there did seem to be something different about her. Something about the way she was looking at them…

"Ryan, I don't think that she recognizes us…"

"What? Are you telling me that we're dealing with an _Amnesiamon_ this time? Oh man... how come we never get the easy ones?"

"Oh, for goodness sake," said Renamon in exaspiration as she leapt into the air. "Let's just get this _over with_!"

Renamon hovered in the air as she crossed her arms across her chest and summoned her attack. Dozens of diamond shaped energy shards materialized in the air around her and descended towards the orange dinosaur, who had just enough sense left in his shock filled mind to jump out of the way, and the diamonds impacted the ground harmlessly, kicking up some dust and debris. Richoemon looked at the spot where he had just been, glad that he hadn't just stood there and took the attack. As a vaccine, Renamon had the type advantage over him, which meant that he would have been affectively deleted.

Ryan looked at Rika with surprise painted on his face.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!" He shouted at the girl. Rika, unperturbed by Ryan's outburst simply answered back coolly and calmly as though it were obvious, which it was.

"Attacking your pathetic excuse of a digimon. What's it look like I'm doing, you numbskull? Now either shut up and fight or go run and hide, 'cause this match is about to be wrapped up. Renamon? Walk all over him."

"As you wish," replied the vulpine digimon calmly as she leapt into the air once more, summoning her attack.

**"Diamond Storm!"**

The diamond shards hovered briefly in the air before they began to descend towards Richoemon. Ryan's mind was awhirl with a thousand conflicting emotions, but as soon as Renamon pronounced her attack one became all encompassing, and at that moment he saw red.

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Ryan shouted, his voice held in the viselike grip of a near murderous rage. "I WON'T LET YOU TAKE HIM FROM ME!"

As the diamonds impacted the ground where Richoemon stood, Ryan's digivice glowed with a fearsome light, but because the dust that was being kicked up was so thick, Rika didn't notice. She just smirked as she watched her partner deliver the coup de grace on the hapless rookie digimon.

"Now that's what I'm talking about. Too bad this kid wasn't much of a challenge…"

"RICHOEMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

"TERRADRAMON!"

The dust was swept away as a massive dinosaur like digimon burst out of a sphere of data and towered over Rika, letting out a roar of anguish. Rika stepped back in surprise and took out her D-Arc to scan the digimon. The halo circle rose up and displayed the stats of the new digimon.

**TERRADRAMON **

**No data **

"Rrrgh," growled Rika as she looked back at the new digimon. "This thing's a stupid piece of junk." _How did this kid get his digimon to digivolve?_

Ryan glared at Rika.

"Are you going to stop long enough for us to talk, now?" He growled. Rika narrowed her eyes and met him, glare for glare.

"We have nothing to talk about doofus! Now shut up and fi…"

"Just _what_ is your problem, all of a sudden?" Demanded Ryan. "One minute you're an okay person and the next you're acting like an IceDevimon! I mean, seriously…"

"Yeah," spoke up Terradramon. "Earlier you were telling Ryan that you liked him and everything…"

Ryan gave his partner a bewildered look. "Um… Terradramon? This really isn't the time to bring that… Wait! You overheard that conversation?"

Terradramon chuckled. "Kind of hard not too…"

"Remind me to plug your ears with cement when we get home," Ryan said darkly.

Rika's left eye twitched as she drew a card from her cardholder. She didn't understand what the deal was with this kid or his digimon. The way that they were acting it was as if they knew her and Renamon, but she didn't recognize them at all. And that last bit from the giant dino, (_Terradramon was it?)_ about how she _liked_ this kid? Ridiculous! It was all probably some stupid act that the kid had put together because he probably had a crush on her or something and set this whole thing up as a way to impress her. Yeah, that was it. The kid had to be some kind of freaky stalker. Well, here was where she squashed his passion like the insignificant thing that it was. Looking at the card that she drew, Rika smirked and slid it through her digivice.

"DIGI-MODIFY!" She shouted. "BATTLE TOMAHAWK ACTIVATE!"

A large, double bladed axe appeared in Renamon's hands and she readied herself. The kitsune had some doubts though. There was something strange about these two that Rika seemed to have been ignoring ever since she diverted from her plan of taking on that kid with the goggles on his forehead. The way that they were acting… well, perhaps it was unimportant. All that mattered was that she pleases her Tamer so that she could help her digivolve. Without waiting for further instructions, Renamon jumped up, and brought the axe upwards, preparing to slash downwards. Looking at her opponent she saw that the Champion level digimon was preparing to shoot her with some kind of fire based attack with its mouth. Typical of digimon of this kind. She wasn't concerned at all.

**"Metallic Fur!"** Cried a new voice, and suddenly Renamon was tackled to the side by an Apemon, barely knocking her out of the way of the other digimon's attack. Not losing a beat though, Renamon threw Apemon off of her and then promptly landed a roundhouse kick on his head just as soon as he was saying something.

"You alri… _Oof!"_ Apemon fell to the side hard, but rolled successfully rolled with the blow, quickly recovering.

"Oookay," the Apemon said. "That's hardly the kind of gratitude that I would have expected from a grateful friend. I take it that there's a reason as to why you're attacking Terradramon and Ryan?"

"Took the words right out of my mouth," said Ryan in an almost deadpan voice. "Seeing as how you're here, is John nearby? _Ms._ _Congeniality_ here could use a lesson in manners. Again."

Rika could be heard growling in frustration as she drew another card. _Another digimon? Okay, this is just getting to be too weird. They're popping up everywhere now…_

"OKAY! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?!" Shouted a voice that, at least to Apemon, Ryan, and Terradramon was familiar. Turning, everyone saw a boy running towards them, his face livid with anger as he glared at Ryan and Rika. He decided to settle on Ryan first for an explanation.

"You wanna tell me what's going on? Don't tell me that you two are having a lovers spat or something…"

"The next person who says _anything_ involving me and Rika in that way in the same sentence is going to the hospital for intensive care!" Ryan said harshly. "And as for why we're fighting why don't you ask her? She's the one who adopted that _Ice Queen_ attitude again, and jumped Richoemon and me just as soon as we got here."

John turned to Rika and raised an eyebrow. "Is this true, Rika?"

Rika glared at the boy. "I don't know what's going on here, but you guys are weirding me out. Renamon? Finish their pathetic puppies and let's go home. I've had enough of this for one day."

John turned to Renamon with pleading eyes. "Renamon? Love? You want to tell me what's going on here?"

Renamon looked back at the boy with cold eyes. "How _dare_ you address me in so familiar a way?" the kitsune growled. John actually backed up in shock, his face looking like she had just slapped him. Even Ryan, Apemon, and Terradramon had to pick their jaws up from off the ground from this sudden surprise.

"Okay, now I _know_ something's messed up here," said Ryan.

John quickly recovered and looked into Renamon's blue eyes, initiating a contact between them that the vulpine digimon had previously only allowed with one other person.

_"Renamon,"_ He said mentally to the kitsune, who's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden and unexpected communication. _"What's going on? You know that you can tell me. Why are you and Rika acting like this?"_

_"… … How are you doing this?"_

_"What do you mean? You made the link yourself, just like you did with Rika. Why don't you… remember?"_ John spoke that last word as though it were a separate question. Something started to click in his mind, but he needed time to think about it. Time that, unfortunately, Rika wasn't going to give them.

"RENAMON! HEL-LO?! ATTACK! NOW!"

Torn between a momentary decision to continue her discussion with the boy and the desire to obey her Tamer, Renamon chose the latter, and leapt towards the digimon, swiftly evading Terradramon's Inferno Blast attack, and charging towards the great saurian, having deemed it as the greater threat. Apemon made as if to attack, but John held him back.

"Let me," John said emotionlessly.

"You sure?"

John's answer came in the form of an energy sphere that he summoned in the palm of his hand. He took one last look at Renamon as she soared through the air. John felt something shatter inside him.

_"I'm so sorry, Renamon…"_

John hurled the ball at the fox digimon and it smashed into her, throwing her to the ground, the Battle Tomahawk vanishing as soon as she landed. Getting up with a groan, Renamon weighed her odds. One data type Rookie against two vaccine type Champions. She might be able to do it, but the one boy, the one who had spoken to her in her mind just as she did with Rika, had just now displayed an unusual ability that she had believed belonged only to digimon. Taking a quick glance at Rika, she saw that she too hadn't been expecting this. A quick mental exchange, and Renamon phased out of view, reappearing beside Rika and, after lifting the girl into her arms, they vanished. Ryan blinked and then frowned in frustration.

"Man," he said as Terradramon regressed back to Richoemon. "How did someone with that attitude _ever_ get friends?"

John didn't respond to that question. He was currently looking at the hand that he had formed the sphere of energy around. It looked _fuzzy_ for some reason, and even looked as though he could see through it in some places, just like with Ryan when he was a ghost, only not as bad. There was something else as well. John felt a little drained activating his author abilities, almost as if he were just feeding off of batteries and not from his account.

_This doesn't look good, _John thought as his hand returned to normal. Ryan came up behind John and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey," he said. "You okay?"

John shook his head. "No, something's wrong…"

"Uh… excuse me?" Spoke up a voice from behind them. Turning around, Ryan, Richoemon, Apemon, and John came face to face with a brown haired boy with yellow trimmed goggles on his head. Next to him stood a large red dinosaur with a hazard symbol on his chest, staring at them goofily. "Could someone here explain to me just what's going on here?"

Ryan and John both sighed and sweat dropped.

_Looks like it's going to be one of those days…_

7


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Me and myself do not own Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 15

Second Arc: 04

**The New Frontier**

Ashley leapt off the train tracks and rolled across the field as a train sped past her, blowing its whistle and laughing hysterically. Ashley got up on one elbow and shook her fist at the locomotive (that she immediately recognized to be a Trailmon) and threw a heaping helping number of curses at it. The Trailmon didn't hear of course over the noise of its engines, and that was probably all for the best. One never knows when the wrong thing said might lose you a much-needed ride in the digital world. Getting back to her feet, Ashley brushed her hair out of her face and looked around. There was no one else with her. Well, that wasn't necessarily true, there were the uncountable number of Poyomon floating around giggling and making weird faces at her, but that didn't really count. Did it? Ashley sighed. She supposed that it did, but she really wished that there were _human_ contact for her to be with. To talk too…

_"Oooh…"_

Ashley spun around, her eyes wide and searching. She could have sworn that she just heard someone, a girl by the sounds of it and close by too! But no matter where she looked she couldn't see anything but Poyomon.

_Well, maybe it was one of them. I've heard that some digimon that are the same species can be different genders, even though it seems like they're all the same. And didn't Renamon once say that digimon don't actually have genders? And why…?_

_"Uhhh… where… where am I?"_ Asked a voice that Ashley immediately recognized.

"Rika!" Ashley exclaimed. "Where are you? I can't see you!"

_"Huh? Oh, you're that weird girl from the boat. What's you're name… Brahm somethin'…"_

"It's **_Ashley Brahms_**, Rika! Now where are you? Tell me so that I can find you!"

_"Calm down, girl, and lower the tone levels too while you're at it. And just for the record, I'm not Rika; I'm her double Ruki. As for where I am, I'm right next to you. I can see you perfectly fine. You must be blind."_

Ashley growled. "_I_ can see perfectly fine, _Ruki_. Maybe you're invisible. Ever think of that?"

Although Ashley had been joking, it did have the noticeable affect of Ruki actually taking a moment to consider it, and confirming it a second later.

_"Wha… no! No way! I… I can't see myself! How…? Where…? Why…?_

"When?" Asked Ashley in a joking manner, not quite realizing just what was going on, or how serious Ruki was about her own predicament.

_"Shut up! I'm serious here! I can't see my body! And where's Renamon?"_

"Maybe she's invisible too…"

For some reason, Ashley felt a mental equivalent to a _thwack_ on her head. She winced.

_"That's **not** funny! Grrr… when I find out who did this to me, heads are going to role!"_

Ashley groaned. "This is disturbingly similar to a fic I read a while ago…"

The sound of Ruki growling shut her up.

"Um… maybe we should see about trying to find who we can. What do you think?"

_"Since thinking seems to be the only thing that I can do, we might as well. I'm not interested in staying in one place, so let's go!"_

There was a brief pause.

_"Um… I seem to not be able to move either."_

Ashley restrained the urge to laugh. "Well, I guess that I'll just have to go and find the others on my own. _See _ya later, Ruki."

_"… I don't believe this…"_

Ashley took a few steps when Ruki spoke up again. _"Hmmm… actually you know, I think that I might actually be able to come along after all."_

"W- what? What do you mean?"

_"Move some more. Pick a direction."_

"Um… okay." Ashley did so.

_"Well, it looks like I **can** come along. I seem to be linked to you in some way. I go where you go now. Weird. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."_

_Well it's definitely a bad thing for me,_ thought Ashley.

_"I heard that,"_ said Ruki. _"Looks like I'm in your head too. Wait! I'm… in… your… head?"_

For the next hour, Ashley trudged through the field, listening to the unwanted mental passenger scream in rage and beat Ashley mentally. It looked like it was going to be a loooong day…

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_"Can't you move any faster?"_

_I would if you weren't being such a pain in the neck._

_**Thwack!**_

_"Did you forget that I could hear your thoughts?"_

_No. Well, yeah, but talking to you this way is better than saying it out loud. That'd just sound weird if I looked like I was talking to myself. I still can't believe that you're in my head._

_"Join the club."_

Ashley sighed. _Any theories as to why you're like this, and how I can get you back to normal?_

_"You're asking me? I have no clue whatsoever. This is just way too strange even for me. I don't even know what I'm doing here, I mean, this is the Frontier series and last I checked I was strictly a Tamers character."_

_But weren't you the narrator at the end of the show?_

_"Only for the first forty-three episodes. I quit after that."_

_Oh. Why?_

Before Ashley's mental passenger could give her an answer, an explosion sounded, and a cloud of smoke was kicked up over the crest of a nearby hill. Looking in its direction Ashley stopped in her tracks, her heart beating in her chest as the beginnings of panic began to settle in her mind.

_"WELL?" _Demanded Ruki from the corners of the young girl's mind._ "Aren't you going to do anything?"_

_Like what?_ Asked Ashley.

"_You could try either running in another direction, or you might want to think about checking out what the disturbance is. Personally I'm in favor of the latter action."_

_Why? Isn't that like a completely dumb thing to do? Renamon's not around and because I'm only a secondary character I don't have a partner to protect us…_

The sound of Ruki chuckling in Ashley's mind gave the poor girl the shivers.

_"If there's one thing that I've learned in my life as a Tamer, it's that wherever there is danger our friends usually aren't that far behind."_

_I still don't like that line of reasoning, even if it makes sense._

_"Even so, a Tamer never runs from the face of danger."_

_That's stupid. I'm not a Tamer…_

_**Thwack!**_

_"Listen, you stupid excuse for a Mary Sue! You're going to check out the trouble, and you're going to do it **now**! And if we don't see anyone that we recognize, feel free to run. I'll be right there with you."_

_I thought that Tamers didn't run from the face of danger._

_"Are you being funny with me? Move already!"_

_**Thwack!**_

_Ow… okay, okay! Sheesh! Now I know why you and Rika aren't allowed to be in the same room together._

_"Grrr…"_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

**"Destruction Grenade!"** Shouted Guardromon as fired another volley of missiles at the annoying dinosaur digimon that was attacking them. The digimon, known as Allomon, ducked beneath the missiles and laid in with a Dynamite Head attack, smashing into Guardromon with an explosive blast and sending him flying a ways into the air. Guardromon struggled to get back to his feet, but due to the shape of his body it didn't look like he was going to be recovering any time soon.

**"Dino Burst!"** Shouted the Armor digimon as fire began to erupt from its mouth, aiming towards the helpless android.

**"Koyousetsu!"** Called out another voice, and Allomon's attack was interrupted by a hailstorm of razor sharp shards of diamonds imbedded themselves in his skin. Crying out, the Allomon swung its massive head around, searching for its new opponent. The attacker came again a second later, following up the earlier assault with a more direct approach.

**"Wisteria Punch!"** A purple-gloved fist smashed into Allomon's skull, sending him reeling, but unfortunately it did not pack the kind of power necessary to force him to fall to the ground. Rearing back up, flames licked at his mouth and he prepared to deal flaming death to the fox like digimon that was attacking him.

**"Warning Laser!"**

Allomon howled as a blast of energy seared into his back and he whirled back to release his attack on the Guardromon.

**"Koyousetsu!"**

Diamond shards slammed into his body once again, and this time the now off-balance Allomon fell hard, gravity doing its job on the massive digimon. Getting up, Guardromon primed his next attack. Twin missiles popped up from his arms, and they fired off, aimed on a collision course with their target.

**"Destruction Grenade!"**

**Ka-Boom!**

The missiles impacted with the Allomon with pinpoint accuracy, and Allomon's data phased out of stability before degenerating into lines of Fractal code. The Allomon no longer a concern, the kitsune like digimon known as Renamon walked over to where Guardromon and his partner Hirokazu were and she helped the visor wearing Tamer get his partner back to his feet.

"Good to see you made it out of that freaky storm thing, Renamon," said Hirokazu. "Where's Ruki? Is she with you?"

"No she is not," said Renamon as she looked around. "She and I were separated from the others when we were pulled into the storm. Seeing as how you're here alone with your partner, I take it that you haven't had any luck either?"

"Nah," said Hirokazu shaking his head. "We just got here, and the first thing that happens is we get attacked by that overgrown Greymon wannabe. We were handling him just fine until you showed up. Then we sorta just got distracted watching you turn him into mincemeat and making it look easy."

"Huh," said Renamon, not believing them one bit. Then one of her ears twitched as she heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Someone's coming."

"Where? I don't see anyone else around except for you, me, Guardromon and…"

"RENAMON!" Shouted a blonde haired girl as she raced towards them. Coming to a stop in front of them, the girl, Ashley Brahms if Renamon remembered correctly, leaned over as she tried to catch her breath.

"You don't know _how_ good it is to see you again. Maybe you can help me with a little problem that I have…" The girl panted, but Renamon interrupted her by raising a paw.

"Before I can help you, I must first find my Tamer."

"Oh, that's what I need your help with too! We have so much in common on that front, you see…"

Before Ashley could finish her sentence, the sound of music rose in volume before leveling off, and a familiar voice spoke.

_"These guys have no idea what they've gotten themselves into. But I'll bet you do. Find out on the next Digimon, Digital Monsters."_

Hirokazu, Ashley, Guardromon, and Renamon blinked in surprise.

"Is it just me," said Hirokazu snapping himself out of his daze. "Or did I just hear Ruki narrating the end of the first episode of Digimon Frontier?"

_"Oh, I don't believe this…"_

"R-Ruki?" Stammered out Renamon in surprise. "Where are you? I can't see you."

_"I'm right here, Renamon," _spoke the voice of Ruki Makino exasperatedly.

Ashley nodded. "Yeah, that's the problem that I wanted to talk to you about. She's been a bodiless passenger in my head all day so far, spouting lines from the Frontier season every so often and pounding on my brain whenever I annoy her just a little too much. I was hoping that you could help me… _evict_ her."

_"Say yes. Say yes."_

"I… don't think that I can," said Renamon carefully.

"Darn." _"Darn."_ The two girls said at the exact same time. Ashley giggled.

"Jinx."

_"Wha…? Shut up!"_

Renamon listened to the exchange with mild amusement, while next to her Hirokazu seemed very much confused.

"Are you saying that… Ruki's in your mind? So how come I can hear her? Does that mean that she's in my mind too?"

_"God, I hope not," _muttered Ruki.

Hirokazu heard that last bit as his eyes widened in shock before promptly rolling up into their sockets. Gravity once again did its job as the visor wearing Tamer fainted dead on his feet, and toppled backwards towards the grass, only to be caught by the ever-reliable Guardromon.

For a moment, no one said anything.

_"Heh, heh,"_ Ruki spoke._ "I actually made him pass out without having to threaten him with anything. That almost makes it worth not being physical. Almost."_

Ashley and Renamon both sighed. Long day just got even longer.

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A/N: This chapter was a little bit weird, but there were some things that I wanted to introduce here, and toy around with before I settled on any major plots for this portion of the fic. When I heard Rika's voice actor in the announcer role I couldn't resist putting her in that position once again. Hope you enjoyed it too. Later all.

-Crazyeight

6


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or anything anime related unless I came up with it myself. Of which there is very little…

The Four Seasons: Chapter 16

**In Between the Lines**

_"So you've finally decided to show up. Took you long enough. What kept you?"_

_"Sorry. Things have been pretty tight lately. I won't be able to stay for very long either. I just wanted to make a quick stop and see how things were going."_

_"I guess that that depends on how you view things. **I** certainly don't think that things are going well."_

_"Are things that bad?"_

_"I suppose not. I just don't think our other member of our triumvirate realizes what's going on. For one thing there's the OC's that have infiltrated the system…"_

_"I know about that. And they didn't infiltrate. They…"_

_"I **know** what they did. I'm just exaggerating. My point is, they're already messing things up. The story line's changing."_

_"Wasn't that the original plan?"_

_**"You know what I mean!** We finally got our chance to make things as we want them to be and then… they show up. If we're not careful we'll go the way of the Lord of Fantasy."_

_"Can't you just have the system take care of them?"_

_"I would, but I'm having trouble getting it to do what I want. So far it seems to be focused on season three, which is really all I could get it to do so far. God knows why…"_

_"Could it be because of… him?"_

_"… … That's a possibility that I haven't considered. Rrrgh… I should let our 'partner' know what's going on. To be honest though, he probably won't listen. He's too caught up in this. He might as well be blind to it. He doesn't believe that the OC's are going to be a problem."_

_"I thought that we took precautions that they won't be."_

_"Under other circumstances I would agree. Unfortunately with the system deciding to run the way it is we may not be able to rely on that. I'm thinking that we may have to go in there in person and deal with the mess. Obviously we can't reset the system as long as those OC's are there. They're like a block, a fixed point or a singularity. Something like that, and it's messing up our hardware. Our partner refuses to believe that they could be a problem but I don't. They have always been a problem."_

_"Perhaps. But the system **is** working on them, bit by bit. Some faster than others, but that's probably because of **its** presence in a given season. Over all, it will still…"_

_"I know, I know. But with it acting the way it is, nothing can be left to chance. I **have** to do something, especially about the ones in the first season. They're the farthest from where our little **friend** is. They won't be affected as easily as the others. I'll start with them first and work my way up. What about you?"_

_"Sorry. Not much I can do at present. Not where I am. I might be able to help you with something else though."_

_"And that would be?"_

_"I can't tell you. I'm not really on a secure link here. And I've got to get going. When I'm free later, I'll tell you. Until then…"_

_"Of course. We must all fight the battles that we can and as we know how too. Good luck with yours."_

_"Thanks. Say hi to our errant partner for me when he gets in will you?"_

_"Of course."_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

There was once again much buzz going on throughout the FanFic Domain. Chat rooms were flooded with news about the strange world that appeared in the websites sky and of the supposed disappearance of the characters. According to rumor, the boat had made it to the vacation resort and no one was on board. A _ghost ship_. Oooh…

At present, the FanFic Authorities were maintaining order by telling everyone that there is nothing conclusive about the failed attempts to contact the characters or their families, and that the best thing to do, for everyone's sake, was to not talk about it or, if failing that, to not listen to the rumors that were flying about. Not that it did anything. People still talked. If not at the FanFic Domain, then at some other chat room or even over the phone. As rumors go, they have a way of evolving to the point where they are completely ridiculous and have nothing to do with reality, or rather unreality. I won't go into detail about the various tales that were being spread, but there was one that was most prevalent and actually seemed to contain a grain of truth.

The characters had been kidnapped by aliens who were interested in the show and wanted to take them home with them.

It was almost ironic just how close to the truth that many of the fans of Digimon were.

The word for now was, don't panic. Don't do anything rash. The authorities were still edgy enough as it was over the Fable War without adding another crisis to the already attention riveting one that had now popped up in everyone's lives.

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At the center of the FanFic Domain, at the foot of the Domain Tower, the Mega level digimon known as Black Wargreymon looked upon the new world in the sky and wondered.

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"Are you telling me that the characters are _gone_?" Sarah asked Mark, who nodded.

"According to this E-Mail that you received, yes. That appears to be the case. And I am willing to bet that whoever it was that stole Milleniummon's data are behind it."

"How do we know that you're not the one orchestrating this from the sidelines?" Asked Dean.

Mark shrugged. "You really don't. I don't care if you think I did or not because I intend to get them back."

"How?" Asked Mike, his curiosity peaked.

Mark frowned. "Not sure as of yet. I'm going to need an accurate description of the _World in the Sky_ that's mentioned in the E-Mail before I can design a hacker's program. Sarah can help me with the program…"

"I can check out the world thing," said Dean. "But I'm going to want to take a careful look over this program of yours before we settle on using it."

"We still need to know what we're up against first, but so be it. I take it that you don't trust me even with Sarah hovering over my shoulder?"

Dean just looked at Mark, his face expressionless. Mark chuckled.

"Better get going then," said Mark. Dean nodded and he sat down at Mike's computer and accessed his account. A second later, the boy had disappeared into the network of the FanFic Domain. Mike looked at Mark expectantly.

"What can I do?" He asked.

"Nothing for now," said Mark. "Just monitor Dean's progress and let me know when he's ready to come back. Sarah, I'm going to need your help with designing the basic layout for our program."

"All right."

As the two got to work, Mike turned towards his screen and looked over Dean's account. A small grin played across his face as he looked over the stories that the boy had written over the months that he had been a part of the FanFic community. Moving his mouse up to one of the stories he accessed its stats.

And he hit _delete_.

_One step at a time,_ thought Mike as he took a quick look at Mark and Sarah.

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Dean had appeared in an _in-between_ zone that separated the FanFic Domain from the strange world that now dominated its sky. His account abilities enabled him to scan its structure and send the information to his account. As an added precaution (because there was always a possibility that something could go wrong) he also sent a backup copy of the info to Sarah's account. It would take longer but it might be worth it in the end. As for the world that he was analyzing he found that it was truly amazing. It's structure seemed to consist of multiple layers all existing in one space but somehow remaining separate. He recognized the individual layers too as belonging to… _no way. They're all different seasons. My God! Whoever came up with this was a genius. Somehow they've managed to reformat the TV show, probably from some old video footage that they had, and used it to recreate the show, and placing it within the confines of a website! It's basically its own fan fic! This is a lot like what Mark did to the FanFic Domain when he altered the character's memories and deleted all those sto… AAAUGH!!!_

Dean suddenly began screaming as he felt pain rip through his body. Immediately he knew what had caused it, but he didn't know how or why.

_My stories! One of my stories has just been deleted! I… I gotta get out of heEAAAGH!_

Dean gritted his teeth and reached out with his mind towards his account. He had to get back to the real world. He had…

Dean gasped as something unexpected happened to him. The words, _Logged Out_ could be heard in his head.

_How? I have to be on the other side to be logged out!_

No answer came to Dean as he floated in the abyss, and soon his body was wracked by another onset of pain. Dean hissed through his teeth as he bit back a scream, and he did something that he hadn't done in a while.

He prayed.

A/N: Aaaah… I am _such_ an evil person aren't I? The OC's are stuck in the TV show and Dean is now stuck between two worlds. There's also a few interesting things that I've introduced in this chapter (wonder who can guess what's what?). Anyway, for the sake of convenience, I've decided that when I start writing the chapters concerning the characters and their doings in the seasons, I'm going to do it one season at a time (that means I won't start writing about another season until I've reached what I call the _zenith point_. By which I mean when the character's are just about to escape) so that I can stay in sync with the season instead of having to jump around between perspectives. And it will also give me time to finish planning out the rest of the story as I go 'cause as I write this (and as you read this) we are at the point of the story that I had fully and completely planned out by the time I had finished 'Wages'. I have been making notations as I've been going along for what I want introduced (and I intend to introduce a number of _interesting _surprises. Heh, heh) and now it's time to organize them. Be interesting to see how things turn out, so stay tuned!

Also, before I close this chapter I would like to thank **Pandemonium Theory, Dag 417, Gigawolf1, **and** Digital-Dragon-Master **for continuing to follow along with my story. Thanks you guys! That means a lot to me!

-Crazyeight

4


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Be serious. You _know_ I don't own Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 17

Third Arc: 01

**Devils May Cry** : part 1 

A world shrouded in a mystical aura came into view, surrounded by the thousands of stars that made up the universe. It was just one world among many, tiny and seemingly unimportant to the grandness of the universe. And yet there is something special about it. Something that sets it apart from all others.

Calmly, a voice spoke from the void, as though narrating the beginning of a story.

_That's home: the FanFic Domain. But I'm not sure that's where I am right now. Okay, let me back up a little. It all began shortly after a huge war tore apart the website known as the FanFic Domain. An author by the name of the _Lord of Fantasy_ had tried to take control of it and the characters within and remake their story line. Fortunately for all of us, the characters banded together and defeated him, sending him into digital oblivion. Of course, since then nothing's really been the same. The data in the FanFic Domain has become a little unstable, and for some reason songs pop up out of nowhere, as though they were setting the mood for a specific scene even when there's no story going on. Other times, it's as if they're prophetic, letting people know that something bad is coming, usually shortly before it happens. Not much for advanced warning that's for sure, and no one gets a clue as to what the problem is. No one really had a clue what was going on, but mostly chalked it up as abnormal Internet behavior due to the war. Nothing to worry about since the site was undergoing repairs anyway. At the time, I didn't really care. I was mostly traveling through the site while… uh… going over my multiplication ta…_

"RENO!"

The dark haired boy with glasses jerked at his partner's cry.

"Uh… yeah?"

"As much as I love your sense of drama, this is not the time to be narrating our activities as though it were a story. We've got business to attend to."

Reno grinned a little sheepishly at Lunasmon as they raced through the forest, trying to get a bead on Rocmon and Jane.

"Fine, fine. Let's just make this quick and figure out a way to get back home. Next week's _Chibi Week_. I don't want to miss that."

Lunasmon rolled his eyes and increased his pace. "I'll never understand why you like that holiday…"

"Heathen! You just have no sense of humor…"

The two raced through the jungle, their conversation continuing back and forth like a game of tennis.

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**"Corona Wing!"** Shouted Rocmon as she swept her great wings to the side, sending waves of bluish-white flames at the Kuwagamon, only to miss as the insectoid digimon barrel rolled out of the way and swiftly turned around, flying right at the giant bird, its pincers separating as it prepared its Scissor Claw attack.

_Darn,_ thought Rocmon, realizing that she wasn't going to be able to avoid the attack, so she braised herself as best as she could and prepared to make an attempt at first strike as her feathers burst into flame.

**"Corona Wi**… OOF!"

**"Scissor Claw!"**

Kuwagamon rammed into the giant bird as his scissor like jaws found a tight grip on its prey. The two digimon hurtled out of the sky, aiming towards the trees below them.

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Lunasmon heard them coming before Reno did, but Reno saw them before the winged werewolf that was his partner.

"Lunas? Looks like this is where we come in…"

Lunasmon crouched on his legs before leaping up into the air with a snarl, readying his claws to slash at the insectoid…

_Hold the phone. What is that?_

Buried in the Kuwagamon's carapace was a gear shaped object that Lunasmon found _very_ familiar. Deciding on a new course of action, the wolf changed his course of direction and his target.

**"Shadow Piercer!"** Shouted the wolf and slashed at the gear. The object shattered.

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Kuwagamon loosened his jaws death grip on its adversary as a strange sensation lifted from his mind. He remembered a piercing pain in his side, and then… the loss of control over his body. That, and the sudden sense of rage that had filled his mind as he chased after those children. Not that it had been any different from before mind you, but there remained the fact that something or someone had ripped control of his body, and that left a bad taste in his mouth. He felt furious! He needed to take his anger out on something. To destroy, to rend and tear! Something clicked in Kuwagamon's mind.

How convenient that it already had something to attack so near.

Kuwagamon prepared to retighten his pincers when a pain tore through his side again.

**"Shadow Piercer!"** Shouted a winged werewolf digimon as it latched onto Kuwagamon's armor and began slashing away, ripping deep gashes and exposing the weaker data bonds beneath. Baring his teeth, Lunasmon bit into the wound.

**"Were Bite!"**

Kuwagamon drew back from Rocmon and screamed as a black aura began to envelop its wound. Lunasmon leapt off of Kuwagamon's back and readied its claws for another attack.

**"Corona Wing!"**

Before Lunasmon could unleash his attack a blaze of blue and white flame hit Kuwagamon, eating away his data in huge chunks until finally, with one last roar of anguish, Kuwagamon burst into data shards. Flying back towards the forest Rocmon and Lunasmon nodded respectively to each other before landing and de-digivolving back to Munnimon and Dagmon. Reno walked up to them and grinned.

"Glad to see that you guys still got it…"

"_Got it_?" Asked Munnimon, sounding a little miffed. "When have we ever lost it?" Crossing her wings, the bird digimon turned away and began walking away. Dagmon and Reno both sweat dropped.

"Oookay," said Reno. "That's a little bit weird…"

"I don't know," said Dagmon. "I thought that she made a very good point. _When_ have we _ever _lost it?"

Reno groaned in exaspiration.

Using his D-Comp, Reno tracked Jane's digivice signal and the small group quickly caught up with her, finding the girl in the presence of Tai Kamiya, Izzy Koushiro, Sora Takenouchi, and the two brothers TK Takaishi and Matt Ishida. Raising a hand, Reno prepared to extend a greeting to the Digidestined, wondering a little as to why the hero's had reverted to their younger selves.

"Hey! Guys! What's u…?" Reno halted before he could complete his question when he noticed the glare that Jane was giving him. Walking up to him, she pulled him away from the other kids with a quick word to Munnimon and Dagmon to not say a word to the Digidestined or their digimon.

"What's going on?" Asked Reno after they had walked a ways away from the group.

Jane looked back at the Digidestined, her gray-blue eyes hard and focused and her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration and in confusion.

"Something's gone wrong," Jane said finally. "When I saw Tai he didn't recognize me at all. He didn't know who I was, or how I knew him. He didn't even know what the heck the FanFic Domain was when I mentioned it. I think that he thinks that I'm a little crazy now, or just plain weird."

Reno looked at Jane strangely. "I'm… not sure that I follow."

Jane narrowed her eyes at the boy. "They're acting like they were from the first season of the TV show. Think about it and look at them and their digimon."

Reno did take a look. The kid's were garbed in their classic first season outfits with the same expressions of confusion and curiosity that had been there when they first arrived in the digital world. And there were the digimon, all of them in their in-training form. Koromon, Tai's digimon, was saying something, but there was something different about his voice.

"Koromon sounds just like he did during the first episode," said Reno breathily. Jane nodded.

"That was the first thing that tipped me off. Koromon hasn't had a different voice actor since he first digivolved to MetalGreymon. Then there was, of course, that stupid Kuwagamon that was chasing after them…"

Reno nodded numbly. "You don't think that we're actually _in _the TV show, do you?"

"It's certainly a possibility," said Jane. "If it's true, then we certainly messed up, _big time_."

Reno nodded in understanding. Because of their interference, the group of in-training hadn't digivolved to their rookie level to fight Kuwagamon, and they didn't have Kuwagamon tearing up the ground on them to make them fall towards a river so that they could find the phones and face Shellmon…

"That's it!" Said Reno excitedly. Jane tilted her head at him. "We can take them to the phone booths on the beach! If nothing else, we should be able to use the phones to contact the FanFic Domain authorities and let them know what's going on…"

"You expect that to work? If I'm right, and we are in the show we won't be able to call them."

"Do you know that for sure?"

"Well… no. All right, it sounds like a good plan, but did you forget that Shellmon is there?"

"No, I didn't. We can use that to digivolve the Digidestined's partner's to rookie and after that, Agumon should be able to digivolve to Greymon."

Jane nodded in understanding. They had to do what they could to set things back on track. The Digidestined had to be ready for when the real nasty mons started crawling out of the woodwork. The two of them couldn't fight every battle for them because there were some enemies that were just too strong for them. Even if Reno and Dagmon are able to biomerge in this season there were still a fair level of high-level digimon that could conceivably take down Sabremon.

Like the Dark Masters to name a few.

Jane frowned. They didn't know just how long that they'd be here, or what they had to do to get out of here and get back home with the character's intact. Maybe if they could find the Sovereigns…

But no. The Sovereigns were sealed away by the Dark Masters at this point. Or were they still fighting them? Jane didn't know for sure. Like her friend Ryan she didn't really watch the show all that much, but unlike Ryan she watched it with more regularity than he did and was at times rewarded with knowledge that he lacked or just overlooked.

Jane believed in 'being prepared', and knowledge of the events of the TV show could conceivably have an advantage. As such seemed to be the case now.

"All right," said Jane. "But first things first. We have to find Mimi and Joe. They haven't shown up yet."

"Sure thing," said Reno. "Now all we have to do is come up with a _really_ good story to tell those kids…"

"I'm sure that we can work something out," said Jane confidently.

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Devimon watched the children, his rage a smoldering thing right now. That was good. So long as it didn't suddenly burst into flames he was fine. Those two children had made a drastic change in his plans just by being able to digivolve so much more easily than the Digidestined.

_Who are they?_ He wondered. They're lack of identity disturbed him, as did the differences between their digivices from the other children's. They were unlike any digivice that he had seen before, and he had a feeling that they had abilities that went beyond the others. This unforeseen turn of events frustrated him. He needed something that could take his mind off that anger for a bit before it got the better of him.

His thoughts turned towards a Yokomon village, and the Meramon that dwelled nearby.

Devimon smiled an insidious smile as a thought came to him.

A series of Black Gears flew through the air.

_Time to spread a little chaos. Let's see what these children can do…_

A/N: A little short this time, but due to circumstances beyond my control involving the weather and my driveway, I didn't have much time to write, and I still wanted to post something tonight. So here you go! Hope that you enjoyed it. Later all!

-Crazyeight

5


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: I'm back! I'm done with my February project so it's time to get back to work on some old friends of mine. I've made a slight change of plans for this fic, nothing major. Where before I had planned to do the story one season at a time I've decided to go with a new format. Four chapters per season, with (maybe) two chapter interruptions involving the activities of the authors and then start back over again. I'm also going to be doing something that will accelerate the story considerably, mostly to get past some of the early episodes. This will extend to ALL the seasons mentioned in this fic, and there will be a reason behind it. Trust me on this one. It's also going to be important as to how the characters will develop as… well, characters (looks around sheepishly). Don't look at me like that. Ahem… ON WITH THE FIC!

Disclaimer: I will _never_ own Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 18

Third Arc: 01

**Devil's May Cry**: Part 2

A dark colored gear flew across the sky, heading for Mount Mihirashi, passing over the Yokomon village that lay nearby before it sited a suitable target. Behind it soon followed three more gears, moving at a slower rate of speed before they broke off into different directions. The one that was on the course for the mountain increased its pace.

At the top of the mountain stood a digimon whose entire body was composed of flames. It caught sight of the gear and watched curiously, wondering what it could be. It didn't occur to the flaming digimon known as Meramon to get out of the way when the gear shaped object suddenly shifted course and headed in his direction; at least, not right away. As soon as it started to get close enough Meramon felt that it was suddenly necessary to get out of the way. Taking a quick leap backwards, Meramon continued to watch the gear's progress, only to be shocked to find that the gear shifted its course to keep on him. Not liking this one bit, Meramon began to fling fireballs at the gear, which twisted and turned to avoid them before slamming into Meramon's chest. The fiery digimon screamed in pain as the gear imbedded itself deeply into his body and he knelt down, clutching his chest and gasping with pain.

_Burning,_ thought Meramon as the pain ripped through him. It was too much! He couldn't take it! _Burning! Burning!_

Looking down at the bottom of the mountain, he spied the Yokomon village, and a red haze settled over his mind. Getting to his feet, Meramon began to race towards the village, tracing a trail of fire in his wake.

"Burning! Burning! BURNING!" Shouted Meramon as he sprinted down the mountainside.

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Tai Kamiya and Sora Takenouchi watched the strange girl and boy that had come to their rescue. They seemed to be discussing something, looking back every so often at them and frowning before returning to their conversation. Whatever it was that they were talking about, it sure seemed serious.

"I wonder who they are," said Tai. "But what I'm more concerned about is how it is that they know us. I've never even seen them before."

"Well maybe they know you Tai," said Sora.

"I doubt it," said Matt as he approached them. "From the way that girl was talking to him it was as if she'd known you for years."

"How's that even possible?" Exclaimed Tai. Matt shrugged.

"How is _any_ of this possible? We're in a strange jungle, got attacked by a giant beetle, and we've made friends with these little guys," Matt indicated the spherical digimon that he held under his arm. "You gotta admit, Izzy's theory about UFO's is starting to make sense."

"Hmmm…" said Tai as he crossed his arms. "Maybe…"

"Anyway," said Matt. "I think that the best thing we should do now is to figure out what our next move is going to be?"

"Well, shouldn't we try to find Mimi and Joe?" Asked Sora. "They were with us when that we all got sucked into that giant wave back at camp."

"That does sound the logical…" started Izzy but a sudden scream interrupted him. Everyone turned in the direction of the scream and saw one Joe Kido burst from the jungle, running raggedly as he was pursued by a strange, gray colored creature with fins and orange hair coming out of its head.

"Help me!" He shouted, gasping harshly. "This thing… this thing… it won't leave me alone!"

"Hey," said the gray creature as it attached itself to the boys shoulder. "Who you calling a thing? I'm no stuffed animal. The name is Bukamon." With that said, Bukamon began to laugh while Joe looked like he was about to have a panic attack. Joe looked at the others as they watched him, and noticed that none of them were freaking out. There was also a sizable group of creatures, most of them pink colored, not too far away from the other children.

"Wha… what's wrong with you guys? Don't you see this creature hanging off me? And those creatures standing right there?"

Joe blinked. "Huh-AH? They're… they're everywhere! What are they?"

That was when the little creature known as Bukamon hopped off of Joe's shoulder and flew over to the other creatures as they all faced Joe.

"We're…" began Bukemon, drawing the word out to build up dramatic tension.

"Digimon. It's short for digital monsters."

Bukamon blinked, and turned to see a dark haired girl and a boy with glasses approaching the group.

"Hey, I was about to say that."

"Whatever," said the girl curtly. "I'm not interested in hearing you guys giving the others a definition of who you are. I heard it enough times myself…"

"Jane…" began a bird digimon next to the girl, and the girl sighed.

"Sorry Munnimon. I know. Chances are these kids _do_ need to an explanation, but I'd rather try to find a way to get home instead of wasting time talking."

"I hardly think that learning about what… _digimon_… are is a _waste of time_," said Izzy.

"You would know that, wouldn't you Izzy?" Asked the girl that the Munnimon had called Jane. Izzy looked a little bit surprised.

"How…? How do you know who I am?"

Jane groaned. "It's… a long story. And complicated."

The boy with glasses and a winged, wolf-like digimon walked up next to them.

"We seem to have plenty of time," said Matt.

"She also said that it's complicated. Some of it you might not believe anyway, like the _Legend of the Digidestined_…"

"Reno!" Exclaimed Jane harshly.

The other kids looked at each other in confusion. _Digidestined?_

"What? You know just as well as I do that they're going to find out eventually. I don't see any harm in telling them…"

Something seemed to click in Izzy's mind. "_Find out eventually_? Does that mean that… you're from the future?"

"WHAT?!" This from all the other kids.

"Have you lost your mind?" Asked Tai. Izzy turned to him, his face serious.

"Think about it, Tai; they know our names even though we've never seen them before. And they seem to know something about why we're… wherever it is that we are."

Jane listened to this with a stunned expression.

"That… has _got_ to be the lamest reasoning I ever heard," she muttered to Reno. Reno just shrugged and smiled.

"Hey, just be glad that there's a ready made excuse for us. Funny though, I could have sworn that I heard a similar one in another fic before…"

"Given the amount of stories on the FanFic Domain, I wouldn't be surprised if it's been done a hundred times. At any rate, we're not getting out of here any faster just by standing around…"

"HEY! GUYS!"

_Great. Another interruption._

As Jane and the others turned, they saw a girl in a pink dress with a large, pink hat running towards them with a small, green colored ball with feet and a couple leaves sprouting out of its head. In some ways it resembled the Yokomon that Sora had with her. It was called a Tanemon.

"Hey look guys," exclaimed Sora. "It's Mimi! And she's got a digimon too!"

"Well, at least now we know where Fashion Girl is," said Jane. "Now we can concentrate on getting out of here."

"You said it," said Reno as he watched the Digidestined exchange pleasantries. "Should we have our digimon digivolve and head on down to the beach?"

Before Jane could answer, Matt broke up the happy reunion that they were all sharing with Mimi.

"Okay. C'mone, what're we going to do?"

"If only there was a payphone nearby," said Joe. "We could call the police, the fire department, or my mother."

Jane and Reno both sweat dropped.

"This is like watching a bad repeat," said Reno. Next to him, his partner, Dagmon, looked up at him and smirked.

"That's because it is."

"Shut up. You what I mean."

"Okay, that's it," said Jane with a huff, as she crossed her arms. "I'm not going to stand around here and listen to these guys talk over old lines. We've got more important things to do." With that, Jane uncrossed her arms and began to walk towards the Digidestined with a fierce look on her face. The other children took no notice of her.

"…Forget about going back and explore around here," said Matt.

"I'm not exploring anywhere," said Joe as he crossed his arms and assumed an authoritative stance. "I say that we stay right where we are."

"Can it, Kido," said Jane as she stood in front of the Digidestined, getting all their attention now. "We're not going to be getting anywhere here if we follow your advice. Face it kids, you're not in Kansas anymore…"

"I'm from Odaiba," said a short kid wearing a green hat. He held a little pink Tokomon in his arms. Jane looked over at him and smiled softly, her face losing that harsh edge that it held just a second earlier. She recognized him as Matt's younger brother, TK.

"It's an expression kid. Now, as I was saying, you're all in the digital world now…"

"Digital world?" Asked Izzy. Jane looked at the computer genius and frowned.

"Later Izumi," said Jane, once again catching him off guard with the use of his name. "Anyway, you're all in the digital world now but I think that I know a way for us all to get home. There's a beach nearby that has some telephone booths…"

Everyone's faces lit up at that news.

"Gee Joe," said Matt. "Looks like you'll be able to call your mother after all."

"Hey!"

"All right!" Exclaimed Tai as he pumped a fist into the air. "I'm up for it! Whose with me!"

There were numerous sounds of affirmation to this course of action. Jane nodded and turned to Munnimon, and her digivice glowed, and a sphere of data surrounded the dark colored bird.

"MUNNIMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

"ROCMON!"

The kids stared in awe as the sphere of data shattered, and from it emerged a massive bird with blue and black colored wings with white closer to the edges. Sora was the first to speak, but despite what she had witnessed up to this point, she was unable to shake off the ability of this world to surprise her.

"What in the…? What happened to that little bird?"

Tai blinked. "She got… _bigger_."

"It's called digivolving," said Reno as both he, Dagmon, and Jane climbed aboard Rocmon.

"Digivolving?" Asked Izzy. "What's that?"

"Save the question and answer session for when we land. Now come on already."

"What? You mean like, climb aboard that thing?"

Jane rolled her eyes. "No, I mean throw yourself off a cliff! Of course I mean climb aboard. And for your information Rocmon is _not_ a _thing_! She happens to be my best friend."

"Sorry…"

"Whatever. Now, are you guys getting on or what?"

"I don't think that we should…" began Joe but the some of the others apparently didn't share his reservations. Tai, Sora, and Izzy were already scrambling aboard Rocmon. Matt would have stayed by Joe, but as his brother TK was already rushing to join them he had no choice but to follow, and soon Mimi was chasing after them, telling them to wait for her. Joe looked at the group with a look of utter resignation.

"That's it. I take no responsibility if we all crash and die."

"Joe…" began Bukamon, but Joe didn't let him finish as he too strode over to Rocmon and climbed aboard, getting a good grip on Rocmon's feathers.

"Everyone aboard and buckled in?" Asked Jane sarcastically. "Good. Rocmon? Let's… **GO**!"

"**YES!"** With that, the great bird leapt into the sky. There was a sound of surprised, screaming children a second later. The loudest of which belonged to Joe Kido.

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A short distance away, Devimon watched curiously as the children fley away, his eyes glowing crimson.

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At Mount Mihirashi, the Yokomon village was in flames. Meramon, the fiery digimon sent fireballs every which way, laughing and screaming at the same time as the poor Yokomon exploded into data.

_Burning!_ Meramon shouted in his mind. _Burning! Burning! **BURNING!**_

The flames reached peak intensity, and the Yokomon village was suddenly engulfed in one huge fireball.

6


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Financially I cannot even afford Digimon, so how could I own it?

The Four Seasons: Chapter 19

Third Arc: 01

**Devils May Cry:** Part 3

Devimon saw smoke in the area around Mount Mihirashi and grinned evilly. He rejoiced at the sight of destruction being done in his name. Oh yes, he knew what was going on in that area. He had, after all, sent one of his black gears out to that area.

_Excellent,_ thought Devimon. _Although that was only a **minor** area, it is a step forward. By destroying the strong points of File Island, the Digidestined will have no place to retreat to, and then that will be when they are truly at my mercy. Soon, this island's vaunted **champions** will be as dust beneath my feet. None shall stand in my way!_

The dark ruler of the digital underworld began to laugh, loud and long at the chaos that was starting to spread across the island. On a whim, Devimon cracked the ground beneath him to expose the black gears hidden underneath, and sent one out, heading in the direction of a factory. Devimon smirked. Should the Digidestined ever enter _that_ area, they were certainly going to be in for a surprise…

Suddenly the air around Devimon grew cold. Of course, Devimon normally wouldn't have noticed such extremities, or even be worried about them, but there was something about this occurrence that was…_different_, even for him.

And there was a strangely familiar sense that the dark digimon was getting from the coldness.

_Who would dare?_ Wondered Devimon, and that was when space warped and folded itself around him, trapping him in a realm of darkness. Devimon looked around, completely unconcerned with the change. He was quite familiar with the powers of darkness. What did he have to fear from his own kin?

A presence flitted nearby, and Devimon looked in its direction, smiling.

_Is this supposed to frighten me?_ He wondered. _Does this… whoever it is… think that he can threaten me with my own power? That he can challenge…?_

"You are a _fool_ Devimon," grated a voice from directly in front of him. Turning his head, Devimon came face to face with a deep shadow, similar in form to himself. Only there was no way that he could discern any defining bodily features. The darkness that surrounded the entity was too deep for that. In fact, the darkness… Devimon's eyes widened slightly, impressed with the sight before him. This creature was actually _radiating _darkness, and the shadows that it spawned swallowed up everything around it. Looking closer, Devimon could distinctly make out a pair of eyes buried in that living night. Pools of blackness so deep that they might have belonged to a vast ocean…

Devimon felt himself shiver unconsciously, and he gave the creature some points for that. There was little that could actually make Devimon feel worried, not even a being from the Dark Ocean Between Worlds could lay claim to that.

"To what do I owe this visit?" Asked Devimon in a scornful tone. He fancied that the entities eyes narrowed slightly. And then a clawed hand erupted from out of the shadows and latched around Devimon, crushing his arms to his side. Devimon's body recoiled at the touch, as an unnatural fear ripped through his dark soul.

_What… what **is** this being? I have never met a creature like this!_

The entity brought Devimon a little closer, but still held him a respectful distance away. As Devimon looked into those shadows, he saw other things moving behind them. He could _hear_ them in his mind. They were dark things. They whispered secrets, and clawed at the edges of reality as they snickered at his pain and fear. Devimon felt _revulsion_ towards them, and with a sudden certainty, he felt that he could not go into those murky depths. For if he did, he surely would not come out again. Those… _things_ were not natural. Not by _any_ stretch of the imagination.

"You are an idiot Devimon. You have made your move too soon, and as a result you have changed things that should not have been changed. You disappoint me. I, and the others did not bring you back so that you could rule, but so that you could set the children on their path. The path towards the Dark Masters…"

Devimon gasped. Was this being one of _their_ emissaries? If so… No. Devimon would have known. And from what he was sensing, this being was from another corner of the universe. And what did he mean by _bringing him back_? And why should the Digidestined be set on the path towards the Dark Masters? The powers of the Dark desired those children to be extinguished! Them and their light! Their _accursed_ light!

"What do you want?" Demanded Devimon. The entity chuckled. It had the sound of a waterfall of ice shattering, and a shiver went down Devimon's back as one of the creatures from within that darkness reached out a shadowy limb and stroked Devimon's face.

"Forgive them for their _directness_," spoke the entity. "It has been so long since they've been properly… _entertained_. They are very hungry now. I must learn to teach them to curb their appetites better, for their sakes. As for what _I_ want…" the shadows flickered, and the creature moved its other clawed hand to Devimon's face, and left a small scar as it traced its way across his pale skin. "… I want you to destroy those newcomers. Not the seven that you are already familiar with, for they are _beyond_ your destiny, and to do anything of that sort will only lead to your destruction. The other two, however, they're fair game. I want them gone. They are a blight in the tale that is unfolding, and they are not meant to be. Destroy them, and things can be… _fixed_."

Devimon wondered why this creature was unable to do the deed himself, but a look into the shadows dashed such thoughts. Never before did he want to get away from something so badly. Fear was something that he was not used to. Feeding off of and inflicting on others, yes, but not truly experiencing himself. He had to get out of there. Devimon was just beginning to realize that whatever was going on, there were deeper waters than he had initially realized. To tread further would mean drowning in those shadows. Best to go along with things and take what he could get, and be happy with it. Devimon nodded, and the creature released him disdainfully, and the darkness parted and lifted.

_"Enjoy your kingdom, Devimon…"_ the apparition said as a parting jest as Devimon collapsed onto his knees.

_What did he mean? What did he mean that the Digidestined's destiny is beyond mine? I am a lord of the darkness, and I command powers greater than they ever will. True, the only one that I have to worry about is the smallest of their number but…_

Devimon frowned. _Perhaps by eliminating the two children, those unknowns who can already digivolve their partners, I can change things to my advantage. I don't like the idea of doing any **dirty** work for another power, but I don't see how I could ignore it. They are an unknown factor in my plans, and since they can already digivolve their partners, they will make it that much harder to destroy the Digidestined. I cannot allow that to happen. I **won't **allow it!_

Raising his arms, fury painted on his face, a crack appeared in Infinity Mountain, and black gears began to emerge from its cold embrace.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rocmon had landed on the beach gracefully, and the children all got down carefully, TK laughing like the little kid that he was, and Joe dry heaving as soon as his feet made contact with the ground. As Jane expected, the phone booths that lined the edge of the beach suddenly went off all at once, and the other Digidestined, minus Reno, ran towards them.

"I told you," said Joe excitedly. "All we needed was a phone! We're saved!"

"Waste of time…" muttered Jane as Tai Kamiya reached the nearest phone booth and threw the door open, and the ringing stopped.

Koromon looked over at Tai. "Why'd it stop ringing, Tai?"

"Wrong number?"

"Well that's bizarre," said Sora. Jane rolled her eyes and told Rocmon to stand guard, and then she and Reno headed down towards the next phone booth while Izzy rattled on about some theory involving aliens and the phone booths being a trap of some kind. As the conversation continued on to Gomamon asking Joe what a parent was (_"That's it, I'm outta here."_), Jane got into one of the booths, picked up the phone, and immediately began dialing the number for the FanFic Domain.

"Are you sure that that will work?" Asked Reno.

"No, but we might as well start somewhere and work our way down the list."

Reno leaned against the phone booth as he watched the other kids suddenly surge towards the other booths and start dialing numbers for their homes (TK running off to check for quarters in the slots). Reno watched the comedy begin to unfold.

_3… 2… 1…_

"Hello? Hey, Mom! It's me!"

_"At the tone, the time will be exactly 45 miles per hour, and 90 seconds…"_

"Something's wrong, or Mom's flipped."

_"Tomorrows forecast calls for clear skies with occasional icecream…"_

"What do you wear for that?"

_"This number exists only in your imagination. Please hang up, and don't call back."_

"What planet did I die on?"

"I'm tellin' ya, it's a twisted alien joke."

_Ahhh…_ thought Reno as he smiled. _Good times…_

Reno's head snapped around as Jane slammed the phone back on the hook with a growl.

"Problem?"

"Stupid recording…"

Reno chuckled. "What one did you get?"

"Just it telling me that _No phones are working in your service area. Hang up and have a nice day._"

Reno looked up at the sky and hummed quietly. Jane narrowed her eyes at him but said nothing. Instead she just pulled out a pocketknife and began to pry at the phone box. Reno sweat dropped.

"Um… Jane? What are you doing?"

"What's it look like I'm doing? And what have I told you about that name?"

Reno sighed. "Sorry Raven. Anyway, what good is performing an autopsy on the phone when…"

"Idiot," said Jane. "I'm going to see if I can't cross some wires and connect this thing to my digivice so that I can make contact with the FanFic Domain through the layers of the Internet. If these things are set up to only to react to things in this site, then maybe I can make it so that they can talk to the outside world."

"Think that'll work?"

"Won't know 'till we try. And if my digivice doesn't work out, I'm going to try your D-Comp."

"Um… I think that I'll work that angle myself. I mean, you've never worked with it before, so…"

Jane shrugged. "Whatever. Just see what you can do, got it?" And with that, Jane popped off the top to the phone box and reached inside, muttering something under her breath. Then she stopped when she noticed that the Digidestined had now crowded around them.

"What?"

"I think that it's time that you gave us some answers," said Tai. "Like how you know us, for starters. And then you can tell us about what _digimon_ are, and where we are."

Jane sighed. "Reno? Why don't you field this one…?"

"Actually… can I pitch an idea to you first?" Reno looked over at the kids. "In private?"

The Digidestined looked a little bit miffed at this treatment, but they slowly withdrew. The two kids had proven okay so far, so they shouldn't push things yet. Especially when doing so meant that they might withhold the answers to their questions.

"Okay," said Jane. "You've got your privacy, so let's hear this _idea_ of yours."

"Well, I was thinkin', why don't we just let them _touch_ our digivices?"

Jane blinked as she continued to fiddle around with the wires inside the phone box.

"What good will that do?"

"Making contact with our digivices might restore their memories."

Jane looked up at Reno skeptically.

"What?"

"Think about it. Digivices have shown themselves to be capable of so much more than just digivolving, and in cases such as ours it stands to reason that they could restore the memories of our friends and override whatever it is that's brought them back to this point in time."

Jane was silent for a second. "That sounds…" Jane sighed. "… So… stupid. It's so cliché that I can't believe that it could actually work. You've been reading way too many fics."

"Come on…"

"Do it."

Reno blinked. "Huh?"

"Look, it's pretty obvious that we're cut off from the FanFic Domain right now, and we're going to need all the resources that we can get right now, and that includes the Digidestined working at full capacity. If there's a chance that it can work, and it might, then we should try it. It would save us the time of having to come up with an excuse on our own."

"Actually… Izzy's idea of time traveling sounds pretty good. We even have the Temporal Prime Directive from Star Trek as an added excuse for not telling them too much…"

"Yeah, but I know that I'd prefer the Digidestined's experience firing on all cylinders and not be back to square one. Especially when considering how we changed the storyline by taking out Kuwagamon…"

"And the Black Gear that was imbedded in Kuwagamon's back," said Dagmon from next to Reno. Jane grimaced.

"Black Gear, huh? That's it. If you're idea works, I'll put you up for the _Digidestined of the Year Award_."

"Wow. Thanks."

"Don't let it go to your head. That's only _if_ your idea works, got it? Now give it a test whirl while I work with this stupid phone…"

Jane stopped as a whistling sound broke the quiet of the beach and several dark colored gears slammed into the salty ocean.

_Uh, oh…_ thought Jane. "That can't be good."

As if to drive the point home, a roar of anger erupted from the surf, and all the Digidestined got into a _fight or flight_ position, while Jane and Reno backed away from the phone booths. As everyone watched, a torrent of water burst out from the ground and tore a swath towards the phones. Jumping back, Reno activated his D-Comp, and a sphere of data surrounded Dagmon.

"DAGMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

"LUNASMON!"

The phone booths were blown into the air, and landed with a sickening crash. Rocmon took to the air, and waited for their foe to reveal itself. Finally, with a whirl of sand being spewed in all directions, a massive, dark colored seashell emerged, and from a small opening emerged a black skinned monstrosity with large forward feet, and tendrils for hair.

"What's that?" Asked Tai as he took in the situation, while Koromon bounced in front of him.

"Shellmon," said Motimon in reply.

"WHAT'S A SHELLMON?" Shouted Izzy.

"Something that gets mad for no reason."

"Something's wrong here," said Jane as she brought up her digivice to check out Shellmon's stats. "I don't recall Shellmon looking like that."

**Shellmon **

**Stage: Champion **

**Type: Data**

**Special Attacks: Hydro Blaster, Slamming Attack**

"Attacked by two digital monsters in the same day," said Joe with dry sarcasm. "And doesn't Shellmon know that I'm allergic to Shellfish?"

**"Corona Wing!"** Shouted Rocmon as she flew towards the dark colored Shellmon, the edges of her wings burning fiery blue.

**"Hydro Blaster!"**

A burst of water erupted from Shellmon's head and hit Rocmon dead center, throwing her off course and interrupting her flight pattern, and she crashed to the ground. Sand kicked up in all directions, and Shellmon fired another blast of water at the large bird, driving her body into the remains of the phone booths.

"ROCMON!" Shouted Jane.

"We'd better get the Digidestined up to higher ground," said Reno.

"WHAT? Are you kidding? It was _your _idea to bring them here so that their partner's could digivolve! You backing out now?"

Reno paused. "But something's wrong! Those Black Gears… they're two episodes _early_! And we're only on the second episode! They're not ready for this kind of thing!"

Jane took a look at the kids, to see Joe trying to climb up the cliff, shouting at the others to follow him, only to be blasted down a second later by a surge of water from Shellmon's spout.

"They may not have that option," said Jane.

Koromon glared at Shellmon. "Digimon, ATTACK!"

With a bounce, the seven In-training digimon leapt towards the giant champion, firing round after round of pink bubbles at Shellmon. The bubbles burst harmlessly off of Shellmon's hide, and Shellmon took it in turn to blow each of the digimon away. Lunasmon lunged and slashed with his claws, but Shellmon head butted him into the ground, and stomped on him with his foot.

"All right!" Growled Reno. "That tears it! Time to digivolve!"

"Wait!" Shouted Jane. "You want those kids to digivolve? Then this is their chance! Don't mess things up any more then they already are!"

Reno either didn't hear or wasn't paying attention. Either way, he pressed a button to activate his partner's Ultimate level digivolution. The D-Comp beeped and buzzed as it processed the command.

Only nothing happened.

Blinking Reno stared at his D-Comp in confusion. "_What's going on here?! DIGIVOLVE ALREADY!_"

Jane narrowed her eyes, realizing that something was up she tried an experiment. Raising her digivice she focused her will through it.

Like Reno, nothing happened. Lowering it, Jane took a look at the screen.

_Crest function not found? What's it talking about?_

Before Jane could pursue that line of thought, there was a sudden flash of light as Koromon, Motimon, Bukemon, Yokomon, Tsunomon, and Tanemon were enveloped in a flash of light.

"KOROMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO… AGUMON!"

"MOTIMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO… TENTOMON!"

"BUKEMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO… GOMAMON!"

"YOKOMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO… BIYOMON!"

"TSUNOMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO… GABUMON!"

"TANEMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO… PALMON!"

Tai, Izzy, Joe, Sora, Matt, and Mimi watched in stunned amazement as their little friends emerged from the light in different forms. Agumon, a short orange dinosaur; Tentomon, a purple colored insect; Gomamon, a white colored seal; Biyomon, a pink feathered bird; Gabumon, a wolf like creature with blue fur and a horn emerging from his head; and Palmon, a green colored plant with reptilian features and a flower emerging from her head like hair.

**"Pepper Breath!" **Shouted Agumon, and he was quickly backed by Gabumon Tentomon, and Biyomon.

**"Blue Blaster!"**

**"Spiral Twister!"**

**"Super Shocker!"**

As one, the attacks slammed home, and a growl of pain emerged from Shellmon's mouth. Not perturbed however, Shellmon fired another blast of water at the newly digivolved Rookies, and knocked them on their backs. Groaning, Agumon got back to his feet and fired a volley of fire at Shellmon, to no visible effect other than that Shellmon looked like he had just eaten something a little too spicy.

Rocmon got back to her feet, and her wings flared to life with burning blue fire. Taking to the air once more, Rocmon flung fireball after fireball on Shellmon, but the blue flames did little to the creature as most of his body was protected by a hard shell. Lunasmon, do to his position under Shellmon's foot, could do little else but struggle beneath the digimon's weight, unable to bring his teeth or claws to bear against his foe. With another blast of Hydro Pump, Rocmon was once more blown out of the air. The Hydro Pump swept across the battlefield, knocking everyone off their feet.

And then the attack began to close in on Izzy.

"IZZY!" Shouted Tentomon, and once again a light burst from the device attached to Izzy's bag strap, matching a similar glow that now enveloped Tentomon.

"TENTOMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO… KABUTERIMON!"

The light faded, and in Tentomon's place was a large, blue colored insect with four arms and wings to match. His face was covered by a strong looking carapace that vaguely resembled a Samurai helmet, with a large horn protruding from it. Rising into the air, the newly digivolved digimon began to gather a surge of electricity in the air around him, forming a sphere.

**"Electro Shocker!"** Shouted Kabuterimon, and the electricity rocketed away, heading on a course aimed towards Shellmon. The attack slammed into Kabuterimon, and the electricity coursed around Shellmon's body. Roaring in agony, several dark colored gears extracted themselves from Shellmon's mess of 'hair' and soared into the sky, where it shattered. This event made Shellmon raise his foot up long enough for Lunasmon to get out from underneath the digimon's shadow before once more raising towards the digimon and slashing with his claws.

**"Shadow Piercer!"**

Shellmon fell back before the relentless attack, and drew himself back into his protective armor, his color changing from black back to its original pink. The shell began to spin once more and it sank beneath the sand.

The Digidestined watched as the Shellmon retreated.

"Um… That's it?" Wondered Jane aloud. "I would have thought that Shellmon would try to keep on fighting."

"You forget," said Reno. "The last time Shellmon appeared, he backed off when the others ganged up on him. Facing off against three Champions and a pack of Rookies definitely wouldn't have made his day."

"Oh… yeah…"

Jane looked over at the ruined phone booths.

"Well, no point in staying around here, I guess. There's no way that I can get them to work now. Looks like we'll have to go somewhere else now."

Turning, Reno and Jane looked at the Digidestined. Jane sighed.

_I guess that this is where we see if Reno's idea works…_

Approaching the Digidestined, Jane brought out her digivice to show to the others, and motioned for Tai to come closer.

"All right. I guess that it's time that you guys got some answers." Jane handed Tai her digivice, and he took it questioningly. As soon as the digivice was placed in his hand, a bright light burst from it and enveloped him. Once it died down, Tai blinked in confusion as he looked at Jane, then at Reno, then at his friends, and back at Jane again.

"Raven?" Asked Tai. "What's going on?"

Reno let out a whoop of victory that echoed upon the air.

10


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Since I don't own Digimon, could I say that I _disown_ Digimon? Wait, no. I'd have to own it first. Nuts…

The Four Seasons: Chapter 20

Third Arc: 01

**Devils May Cry:** Part 4

The wind blew in the children's faces as they rode on Kabuterimon and Rocmon out across the blazing heat of the desert. Jane glanced uneasily at Reno, who was sitting to her right, with a small grin on his face.

"Don't. Even," said Jane warningly.

"C'mon. Say it."

"No. I won't."

"Oh, yes you will."

Jane turned to Reno, her eyes flashing dangerously. For a second, Jane suddenly reminded Reno of Rika.

"Give me a break, Reno. I already said that I'd nominate you for the _Digidestined of the Year _award, so what more do you want?"

"Just this: That award doesn't exist."

"…"

Reno sighed and leaned back. "I can keep this up all day you know."

Jane sighed. "Fine. _You were right, Reno_. There. You happy?"

"Quite."

"You know, I _did_ tell you that you should go ahead and let them touch our digivices anyway."

Reno waved a dismissing hand and now leaned forward.

"So, remind me again what it is that we're doing now?"

"We're heading to the Yokomon village," said Jane a little crossly. "Mostly because of the smoke that we saw when we decided to take off and use Kabuterimon and Rocmon for transportation. Which tells me that something's wrong."

Reno nodded and looked over at some of the Digidestined kids. At present, Rocmon was transporting TK, Sora, Matt, and Mimi.

"Do you think that their memories will stick with them this time? During the Fable War, we had a tough time restoring their memories to their totality, and we were in the FanFic Domain then. I can't help but wonder how things will go now that we're in the TV show."

Jane shrugged. "We may want to consider that possibility. For the moment though it doesn't look like it's something that we have to worry about. All I know is that they have their memories, and that makes things easier on all of us."

"Does it?" Asked Reno. "You saw what happened to them once they remembered their old lives again. Tai's gone into this weird funk…"

"In which case, having only temporary recollections of his original life probably won't be that bad. Especially since we may need him to fight at full strength again."

"I guess," said Reno as he pushed up his glasses. "But even so, I'm worried. They're still connected to the show's format in some way. A little while ago I thought that I heard Matt spouting something about being _caught between a rock and two sets of teeth_, and we diverged from episode three quite a while ago. It's kind of spooky."

Jane looked as though she were contemplating on Reno's observation.

"Hmmm… you know; that's a very good point. I'll have to think about that for a bit." After that Jane fell silent and wouldn't say anything more on the subject.

_Oookay…_ thought Reno as he looked over at Dagmon, who was currently hanging his head out to the side, catching breeze. Laughing lightly at his partner's antics, Reno decided to take a look at the Digidestined that they were currently taxiing around. TK was holding Tokomon worriedly, and looking at Infinity Mountain with a pained expression.

_Probably thinking about the last time he tangled with Devimon directly,_ thought Reno. _That fight affected him enough to continue to haunt him even four years after the fact._

Reno looked over at Sora and Matt. They were, at present not looking at each other, or rather studiously ignoring the other's presence. As to why, Reno could guess that it had something to do with either Tai or having to relive their childhood all over again. As if they didn't do that enough in fan fics, but finding that you're being manipulated not once, but twice in three weeks time is a little too much to take in all at once. It made Reno wonder why it was that they continued to stick around after everything that's happened to them. Reno's gaze left the couple and settled on Mimi, who was looking at him with a mixture of curiosity, suspicion, and barely suppressed anger. If Sora and Matt and Tai were angry about having to go through this again Mimi had to be positively livid. The fact that Reno and Jane were OC characters, created by authors similar to the Lord of Fantasy who started the Fable War, probably made Mimi wonder just how much she could trust them. Reno began to get an understanding of what stereotyping, or whatever it was that they called it when the actions of a small group reflected on a larger one because of the characteristics they shared, was like. Sighing, Reno, deciding that he needed something to take his mind off of this possible complication, looked out over the horizon, watching the plume of smoke rise into the sky. Reno's eyes narrowed. He did not like this. Not one bit.

"Just out of curiosity, shouldn't we be concentrating on looking for a way out of here, instead of diverging from the show and heading towards the Yokomon village?"

Jane looked at Reno and _hmmphed_.

"Yeah, but in case you forgot, the only usable digiport within a hundred mile radius happens to not be working properly at the moment. After that, we have the portal in Myotismon's territory…"

"Not to mention the vortex that Etemon creates after MetalGreymon blows him to smithereens…"

Jane nodded. "That too, but they're all on the continent of Server, which is a good ways off. Our first order of business is to find a safe place where we can start building a raft or something. And we still have to get all the other digimon to digivolve."

"So… in short we have to follow the first story arc. Which means finding and fighting Devimon. Well, that shouldn't be too hard. He pops into the picture around… what? Episode eight right? By my calculations we should be on episode three by now."

Jane cocked an eyebrow at Reno. "What gives you that idea?"

"Sequence of events, though Kabuterimon's digivolving before Greymon was a little unexpected. That and we're going to the Yokomon village before the trolley…"

Jane rolled her eyes. "Reno. Tell me you didn't forget about the Black Gears that have been showing up? You said so yourself that they're a couple episodes early. Plus with Rocmon and Kabuterimon we're cutting down on travel time. By my calculations we should still be in episode two."

"Okay, I admit that there are discrepancies, but don't you think that might be because of our presence here? Our attack on Kuwagamon certainly changed a lot…"

"You don't need to remind me, Reno," said Jane. "In any case there's something going on in the direction of the Yokomon village…"

"Wait. You got a map or something? Last I checked we don't really have a very good idea of where everything is around here…"

"There was Tai's map," said Jane grinning suddenly. "I got a copy of it off of E-Bay. An _exact_ copy!"

Reno face faulted on Rocmon's back.

"_WHAT_?! You're telling me that you're relying on _that_ mess of scribbles to guide us? Dude, even I gotta agree with Matt that Tai is _the Dude of Doodles_! No one, and I mean _no one_ real, digital, or fan made can make heads or tales of that thing!"

"Oh please," said Jane. "I can read that map just fine. Besides, it helps that the TV show gave us landmarks to go by, which makes things easier. Remember the mountain that the Yokomon village was nearby? It had a peculiar, _stacked_ shape to it that I remember quite well, and seeing as how we're approaching a mountain that resembles that geographic feature I'd say that we're going in the right direction. Now, as I was saying, there's something going on in the direction of the Yokomon village, and drawing on previous experience I can't help but wonder if Devimon gave Meramon an early green light to torch the place."

Reno's mouth dropped, but before he could bark a denial something clicked. Now that he thought about it, it _did_ make sense. The rules had just changed, and things had either been delayed or accelerated since their arrival.

Jane saw that Reno now understood what she was getting at.

"If things are drawing to a close faster than they should be, we're going to need to be that much faster to prepare for the big crunch. Besides, we owe it to the Yokos to give them a hand if they're in trouble."

Reno nodded. "It's also our duty as a Tamer and… um… Digidestined?" This last was aimed at Jane, who shook her head.

"I'm no Digidestined, but the title sounds nice anyway. Either that or Tamer will do. But I prefer to be called Raven anyway, so if you don't mind…"

"Whatever," said Reno, causing Jane to raise an eyebrow. "Anyway, we have something else to worry about. That digivolving problem that we both had back on the beach? Any clue what that was about? I mean, we had no problem getting our partners to digivolve to champion."

"Well, the rules governing this season required the activation of a crest for Ultimate level digivolution. When I activated my digivice, all I got was _'Crest function not found'_."

"That shouldn't affect me though," said Reno as he raised the arm that had the D-Comp attached to it. "My D-Comp already has a… huh?" A halo circle appeared above it, and on it read the words _'Crest function not found'_. Reno's face paled a little before he huffed, feeling slightly miffed. "Well that bites."

"Don't I know it," said Jane. "Looks like we can't digivolve to Ultimate, how you doing for Mega?"

Reno shrugged. "Dunno. Without a crest it might be impossible. Though from what I understand from biomerging, the human is supposed to act as something of a substitute for that affect, enhancing the digimon's natural strength in order to bypass all the regular digivolving stages. 'Course we have to be working in synchronicity for it to work at all…"

"I already _know_ about how biomerging works, Reno. I just asked if you thought you could digivolve to Mega, I didn't ask for a lecture."

"You know, you're pretty bi…"

"_Don't_… even **_think_** about finishing that sentence," Jane said, her voice going first to cold and then flaring to frighteningly hot as she glared at the boy. Reno met Jane glare for glare without flinching, but he didn't say anything else. Jane looked back towards the horizon. After a moment, Jane sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry if I do seem temperamental. Usually I'm not like that, but…"

"Whatever," grumbled Reno. "Just forget about it, all right? Besides, I'm not sure that biomerging would be a good idea without a crest to work with. Dag and I might digivolve wrong or something. It's happened before." Reno looked over at his partner, Dagmon and his face softened. "Let's save biomerging for one of those _in case of emergencies_ events."

"Fine," said Jane as she turned back to Reno, a weird smirk on her face. "One last thing though; we're in the world of the TV show, so if you swear, or almost swear, again the back of your neck is going to be wearing your teeth."

Reno looked up at Jane, a little dumbfounded before nodding. Next to him, Dagmon chuckled.

"Whoa. Scary."

"Wha…? Shut up!" Reno ground his knuckles into his partner's scalp with a growl, but it didn't stop Dagmon from laughing, or from drawing a small chuckle out of Jane either.

"All right," said Kabuterimon as they approached. "Here we are everyone. The Yokomon Villa… Whaaa…?"

There were a resounding number of gasps from everyone who saw the scene of destruction before them. Jane narrowed her eyes as she looked over the ashes that now made up the remains of the Yokomon village. Bits of data floated in the wind as the two Champion level digimon landed and the children got off. Looking around, they could see small fires still burning, the only sign of life in this place of desolation. The air bent and wavered from the heat that they gave off.

"This is horrible," said Sora. "Who could do such a thing?"

"The poor Yokos…" whispered Biyomon.

Jane crouched down, taking note that there were still some glowing embers buried within the ashes. She could feel the heat baking off of them in waves.

"It's still hot. This didn't happen all that long ago."

"So?" Asked Matt. "How does that help us?"

"Because it might mean that whoever did this is still nearby," said Reno in Jane's place.

"That's a comfort," muttered Joe as he and Gomamon cast their eyes about, already searching for their foe.

"So what do you think?" Asked Tai. "Do you think that it's Meramon? You said earlier that things are happening faster now…"

Before Tai could even finish, the sound of trees being torn from the ground brought everyone's attention to the newcomers that were now rampaging towards them. There were two of them, with the appearance of a triceratops only with one horn instead of the traditional three. Armor covered their hides, and they let loose a fearsome roar. To top it all off, they both had a black gear sticking out of their backs. Jane and Reno raised their digivices to check out their stats.

**Monochromon **

**Stage: Champion**

**Type: Data**

**Special Attacks: Volcanic Strike**

"I didn't think that Devimon used Monochromon in his fight with the Digidestined," said Jane as she lowered her digivice.

"He didn't," said Reno. "But there were two Monochromon that appeared in the third episode that were fighting over territory. Devimon must have decided to draft them when he changed his plans."

"Terrific."

One of the Monochromon opened his mouth and began to speak.

"It is by Lord Devimon's will that the two outsiders are to be destroyed! They do not belong here!"

"You can say that again," said Jane. "We're not in the script."

"Yeah, but I think that I'd like to skip the destroying part," said Reno as he raised his D-Comp. "You ready Dagmon?"

The wolf digimon stepped forward.

"Always," he growled. The Monochromon narrowed their eyes.

"So be it. **Volcanic Strike!"**

Opening their jaws, the two Monochromon unleashed a torrent of fireballs at the two children, only to have the blazing attacks stopped by the form of Rocmon as she surged forward to protect them. The fireballs disintegrated on the digimon's burning wings, and she leapt forward as the flames on her feathers narrowed down to razor thinness.

**"Corona Wing!"**

Rocmon crashed into the two dinosaurs, slashing with her wings. A second later, Dagmon digivolved to Lunasmon and joined the fray. Izzy watched the fight rage for a moment before he looked up at Kabuterimon and nodded. Within a second the massive insect took to the air.

And was shot down by a mass of fireballs.

"Wha…?" Startled, Izzy and the other Digidestined turned to see a flaming Meramon striding towards them, a hellish grin on his face as he lit up another fireball and hefted it playfully as though he were thinking about a good game of Catch.

"Where're you going?" Asked the fiery digimon. "I could use some sport here. Those Yokomon weren't near enough fun as I'm sure you'll be."

Tai's mouth went agape. "You're sick dude! Get 'em Agumon!"

"No, Tai!" Shouted Izzy. "Don't! Remember what happened the last time…?"

**"Pepper Breath!"** A retaliatory fireball flew from Agumon's mouth and crashed into the Meramon, who laughed evilly as the flames were absorbed into his body and he began to grow in size.

"My turn," said Meramon. **"Burning Fist!"** Meramon sent a roaring ball of fire that crashed into Agumon and sent him off his feet and crashing to the ground with a cry. Gabumon, Palmon, and Gomamon charged forward, only to meet the same fate as Agumon a second later.

Then Sora stepped forward. Rage burned in her eyes.

"How could you do this?" She demanded. "How could you attack poor defenseless digimon?"

"Uh… Sora," began Joe. "Do Black Gears ring any bells?"

Sora wasn't listening though. She raised her digivice to the sky as Biyomon flew towards Meramon, the expression on her feathered face matching Sora's perfectly.

"I can't forgive this! I WON'T _STAND FOR IT!_"

With that, Sora's digivice took on a dark glow and a black sphere of data materialized around Biyomon. Jane turned her attention away from Rocmon's battle with the Monochromon to see what Sora was about to do.

"NO! **DON'T!"**

Too late.

"BIYOMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO… SABREDRAMON!"

The black sphere shattered, and from it emerged a large bird like digimon that resembled Biyomon's true form of Birdramon. Only there was one crucial difference. Saberdramon's feathers were all black. As Saberdramon rose in the air, she flapped her wings, and black flames shot out from them, flying right towards Meramon.

**"Black Saber!"**

And that was when Jane, Reno, Lunasmon, and Rocmon began to scream as their bodies took on the appearance of TV static, before they were enveloped in a white light and vanished.

A/N: Okay, first I'd like everyone to know that Saberdramon _is_ a real digimon. At least, according to Wikipedia she is. Saberdramon is supposed to be a re-colored version of Birdramon with some shadow-based attacks. I thought it would be cool to throw in another change in the story line. Sadly though, I must leave you all on a cliff hanger, though what happened to Jane, Reno, Lunasmon, and Rocmon will be explained, though it won't be for a while. At least not until I get to the third season part of the third arc. Don't worry though, they will be back. Next up, 02! Later.

-Crazyeight

8


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I cannot own Digimon since I didn't create it.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 21

Third Arc: 02

**Armor Up: **Part 1

"DIGI-MODIFY!" Shouted Kaio as she slashed a card through her D-Arc. "DIGI-EGG OF COURAGE ACTIVATE!"

Kaio's D-Arc took on an orange glow as a sphere of energy began to emerge from its screen. The sphere paused for a moment before shooting into the pile of Gizamon, where the girl's friend and partner, Arbomon, laid pinned beneath the mass of digimon. The energy connected with Arbomon, and her eyes widened as a surge of energy roared through her system. A bright light enveloped her, and her form began to shift and change shape as it began to grow in size. The pile of Gizamon suddenly began to rise.

A-R-M-O-R D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N

"ARBOMON, ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOOO… ISIRAMON!"

The light that radiated from Arbomon died down, and the newly digivolved digimon, partially hidden by the Gizamon, reared up towards the sun and let out a cry, shaking off the offending creatures and revealing its form for all to see before slamming her feet to the ground, creating a small shockwave that knocked more approaching Gizamon off their feet with a cry. Kaio stared in awe at her partner, who turned to face her with a smirk gracing her face. The digimon that now looked at her was horse like in appearance, with a magnificent white coat of fur protected by black armor with red linings that covered her legs, back, and face. The armor on her face showed a single star engraved into its surface, while the mane that protruded from her neck, and her tail as well, burned as a pure blue fire. More flames burned around Isiramon's hooves with the same azure color, and the air wavered and warped around them.

"So," said Isiramon in a much deeper voice that radiated confidence. "How do I look?"

Kaio smiled. "Just great, but if you don't defend yourself soon you won't have time to admire your looks."

Isiramon sighed in exasperation as she turned towards the oncoming hoard of Gizamon and Bakamon, and snorted. Blue flames came out of her nostrils, and Kaio raised an eyebrow at this spectacle, a small smile forming on her face. Choosing not to comment on it though, Kaio reached into her deck box and pulled out a card.

"Time to fight," said Kaio. No sooner then the words had left her mouth that the flames around Isiramon's hooves began to grow and swirl around her like a tornado of heat and fire. When the flames enveloped Isiramon entirely in a fiery cocoon, she rocketed up into the air and a barrage of fire rocketed towards the enemy.

**"Hooves of Damnation!"**

The Gizamon and Bakamon were really out of their league in this fight. Had they their own sense of free will they undoubtedly would have made a run for it. Lacking that one crucial item in their lives they relentlessly charged forward, ignoring the flames that continued to hammer away at them. Isiramon landed proudly on the ground, pawing it with her hooves as the fires on her mane and hooves once more began to grow. Time almost seemed to slow to a crawl as the blue fire rose and began to dance above her, taking on the shapes of hundreds of horses, each of them snorting and neighing loudly.

"Isiramon," said Kaio. "Aim for the Control Spire. Unless I miss my guess, destroying it should get these digimon to stop attacking us."

Isiramon nodded and returned her attention back to the enemy. Her eyes glowed, and letting out a loud whinny she charged towards the digimon, the army of fiery horses enveloping her body as well as rushing towards the opponents. The burning horses smashed into them like a tidal wave, knocking them aside, and a second later another surge of fire, this one much more intense, burst past them with such intensity that the slaves of the Digimon Emperor were as fly's to a hurricane gale wind.

**"Hades Herd!"**

Racing by the army of digimon Isiramon focused her energy and narrowed the shell of flame until it formed a spear like shape and she soon leapt off the ground, aiming for the dark colored obelisk that dominated the land. With earth shattering force, Isiramon smashed through the Control Spire, raining chunks of debris everywhere as the tower toppled to the ground with a resounding crash. A moment later the Control Spire's remains were joined by Isiramon as she landed safely on the ground, blowing away the excess flames with a thought and a snort. Looking around, Isiramon saw that the dark rings that had been collared around the digimon's necks had fallen off, and they were all looking around as if they were wondering just how it was that they had gotten there. Snorting once more, Isiramon trotted over to Kaio.

"That last charge seemed a little bit fast to me," said the armored horse. Kaio grinned and she held up a card.

"Speed card, duh. I wanted to finish this as quickly as possible."

Isiramon rolled her eyes. "And ruin my fun? Honestly…"

"Oh please. We're kind of in the middle of something already, and we need to find our friends before they get into trouble. This isn't the time to _have fun_."

"Spoil sport."

"Whatever," said Kaio as she walked over to the closest Gizamon and pulled him to his feet, swiveling him around so that he faced her.

"All right. You mind telling me what's going on here? And while you're at it, give me some directions to the nearest port to get me back to the FanFic Domain."

The Gizamon blinked at the girl in confusion. "FanFic Domain? Wha… what're you talkin' about? You're in the digital world…"

"I can see that doofus. What I want to know is how I can get back home…"

"You mean like to the real world? How should I know?"

Kaio rolled her eyes and growled. "I don't mean to the real world. C'mon. Work with me here. I've interrupted your little fic and all I want to know is how I can get out of it."

The Gizamon blinked again.

"Fic?"

Kaio sighed. "Isiramon? A little help please."

The armored horse digimon trotted over and glared at the Gizamon fiercely, the flames on her mane burning a little bit more brightly then they were a second ago. The Gizamon sweat dropped and began to struggle.

"Stop it!" Said Kaio harshly. "She's not going to hurt you. She's just here to provide you with some _motivation_ for getting around the whole _staying in character_ rule that fics go by."

"Lady," said the Gizamon, panic edging its way into his voice. "I have no clue what you're talking about. All I know is that we're in the digital world and there's a human called the Digimon Emperor who's been enslaving every digimon around. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to just thank you for freeing us and get the heck out of dodge." With that, the Gizamon broke free of Kaio's grasp and ran off towards the forest. Kaio made as if to chase after him but then stopped. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she thought things over. Isiramon walked up next to her.

"I think that the Gizamon was telling the truth," said Isiramon. "There was something about the way he acted that went beyond just _acting_. It was almost as if he was _living_ the show for real."

"Hmmm…" Kaio thought about this for a second. "You know, I think you're right. You'd also think that an author would have shown up by now also like when we rescued Rika from IceDevimon…"

"Um… technically Kaio, we didn't rescue her…"

"Oh shut up! I don't care what happened, we still jumped to her rescue! And that's beside the point. And another thing, if we were really in a fic then that Control Spire shouldn't have affected your ability to digivolve."

"Think it's the real thing?"

Kaio shrugged. "Unless you've got a better theory that's what I'm going with. The thing that I'm more concerned about is how we got here. The last thing that I remember before arriving here was being on that stupid cruise ship and then there was a weird storm that sucked us all in…"

Kaio stopped as she sighted a beam of green light shoot up towards the sky and make contact with something, which exploded into shards of data. Raising an eyebrow Kaio looked over at Isiramon.

"That looks like it's something of interest. If I know the others, wherever there's trouble they won't be far behind. Tell me, will those flames of yours burn me if I try to climb onto your back?"

Isiramon chuckled. "Like the old saying goes, _burnt hand teaches best_."

"Very funny, Isiramon. Just let me up. And keep your flames to yourself."

"You're starting to sound like an author…"

"Quiet you."

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_I can't believe that it's going to end like this,_ thought Chris as he looked into the cold eyes of the large, cybernetic digimon that was his partner. Metal Dracaramon gave a low, guttural growl from deep within the depths of his throat, but at the moment he didn't show much desire to do anything more than stare at him as his eyes flickered back and forth between a glowing red and a cold blue.

_Why's he just standing there? Don't most dark digimon go about attacking anything that moves? Or breathes for that matter? Wait! Why am I even complaining? I'm still alive aren't I?_

Although Chris felt glad that he wasn't being destroyed yet (and that it showed that there was still some sign of his buddy existing within the corrupted Ultimate), the fact still stood that he had a viral counterpart of his best friend crouching right in front of him. One wrong move and he'd be sent to digital oblivion. Except… he was just standing there, staring at him. Chris would have given nearly anything for something to happen, just so that the tension could be broken. The waiting… wondering what Metal Dracaramon was going to do. It was sort of like the curse of expectation. Chris knew that if he was going to die, he'd rather that it was gotten over and done with as soon as possible without having to beat around the bush as though he were in a waiting room at the dentist's or the doctor's office.

Gatomon looked back and forth between the strange child and his partner, wondering pretty much the same thing as Chris. _Why was that digimon just standing there?_ First, it had a Dark Ring strapped to its neck, so it should still be under the control of the Digimon Emperor; and second, it dark digivolved. From everything that she's seen and heard, they most definitely should have been dead by now, if not lingering. So what was the deal? Narrowing her eyes, Gatomon saw that the digimon's eyes flickered back and forth between red and blue, as though it were struggling against something deep down inside.

_He must be fighting the Dark Ring's control. But how? Is it because he digivolved to Ultimate? And just **how** is he able to digivolve when the rest of us can't? I hate mysteries…_

"Gatomon," began a tall boy with large, wild, brown hair as he took a step towards the cat's direction, but one look and growl from Metal Dracaramon put an end to that plan. Swallowing, he backed off and the giant digimon turned back towards the younger, blonde haired boy.

"C… Chri…ssss…" The cyborg spoke, his voice sounding strained.

"Metal Dracaramon?" Whispered Chris as his eyes widened. Getting to his feet he looked at his partner. "Is that you in there?"

"Chris…" the digimon said again, this time more softly. "Please…"

_Please? Please what? What's he need… oh!_ The answer hit Chris like a Trailmon. Taking out his digivice the blonde haired boy strode up carefully to Metal Dracaramon and presented it to the Dark Ring. There followed a bright light, followed by a shattering sound, and fragments of the Dark Ring fell to the ground before turning into digital data. As soon as the Dark Ring fell apart, Metal Dracaramon collapsed to the ground and reverse digivolved back to his Rookie level of Caramon. Looking at him softly, Chris picked up the little lizard and stood to face those who were behind him. A small smile came to his face as he saw who it was.

"Tai," Chris said. "Agumon. Glad to see another friendly face around here. You mind telling me what's going on?"

The boy that Chris had addressed as _Tai_ blinked. "Um… I would like to tell you, but would you mind telling me how it is that you know me? 'Cause I've never seen you before in my life!"

The expression on Chris's face changed abruptly from one of security and confidence to that of immediate confusion.

"What're you talking about?" Asked Chris, frowning. "Of course you've seen me before. I know that I've only been in existence for about a month, but we _do_ know each other. We've even fought side by side before…"

_Tai_ looked down at Agumon and Gatomon. "This kid ringing any bells for you guys?"

Agumon shook his head. So did Gatomon.

"Sorry Taichi," said Agumon.

"Hold on," said Chris. "_Taichi?!_ As in Tai's double? Well, that's about as good as the real thing, though I'm still surprised that you don't remember me. We met on the FanFic Express yesterday…"

Taichi exchanged glances with Gatomon and Agumon. _Tai's double? As good as the real thing? FanFic Express? _One thought ran through all three of their minds: _This kid is nuts_.

"Look kid," said Taichi. "I don't know who you are, what you're talking about, or how you know who I am, but now's not the time to be talking about this. We need to find a safe place to hold up…"

The ground shook suddenly and the sound of insect wings buzzing in the air caught their ears. Looking around, everyone's mouths went agape as they saw a Tyrannomon, a Monochromon, and a Snimon emerge from the depths of the forest, effectively surrounding them. In Chris's arms, Caramon stirred.

"Ooog… I suddenly feel the need for a _momentai_ right now…"

"You've been hanging around with Terriermon too long," said Chris.

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The Digimon Emperor smirked at the new image that was being displayed on his screen.

"Excellent," he said. "Now, bring me that digimon. And his _partner_ as well. I want to have a few words with him. As for the others, they are of no use to me. Destroy them!"

On the screen, the three digimon complied.

6


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: Under law, I do not own Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 22

Third Arc: 02

**Armor Up:** Part 2

Kaio grimaced from her position on Isiramon's back as she saw a Snimon flying through the air, heading towards the source of the green energy burst that she had seen earlier.

"That can't be good, Isiramon," she said. "How much you wanna bet that digimon is under the control of a Dark Ring or something?"

"I wouldn't bet unless it was a sure thing," said Isiramon proudly as she ran all out towards their destination. A second later she spoke up again. "Fifty dollars." Kaio blinked.

"What? I was speaking figuratively. And where would you be able to cough up that much money anyway? Digital-Dragon-Master only allows you to have a one-dollar allowance. Monthly. Have you been asking for advances again? Or does this have something to do with those _off-shore accounts_ that you keep prattling on about?"

Isiramon chuckled. "We might want to get to the site faster."

Kaio growled. "All right, but we are _so_ going to have a talk when we get home!" Digging into her deck box, Kaio pulled out a card and slashed it through her D-Arc.

"DIGI-MODIFY! HYPER SPEED, ACTIVATE!"

Isiramon shot forwards like the wind, leaving a trail of fire in her wake.

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"AAARGH!" Dracaramon was slapped to the ground by Tyrannomon's tail, and then a second later he was rammed by the Monochromon, sending him crashing into some nearby trees. The giant reptile tried to get back up, but quickly collapsed again.

_Rrrrgh… Not good. I'm just too tired. First digivolving to Ultimate, and then having to fight off the Dark Ring's influence… And to top it all off I have to fight three champions at once! Not fun at all…_

"DRACARAMON! YOU'VE GOT TO GET UP! NOW!"

Dracaramon heard his partner, Chris, screaming his name. Once more the lizard struggled to his feet, and found himself capable of holding his weight this time. But as he looked up he saw that he might as well have stayed back down. Closing his eyes, Dracaramon braced himself for the impact that was sure to follow as a large, preying mantis that was hovering in the air slashed with its scythe like arm blades, releasing twin energy crescents that surged towards him.

**"Twin Sickles!"**

_Chris,_ thought Dracaramon. _Now would be a **really** good time for you to stop sitting on the sidelines and do something…_

As for Dracaramon's blonde haired partner, the same thought was going through his mind as well. He had felt many degrees of helplessness before throughout his story, and during the Fable War. He had always hated the fact that he was basically nothing more than a glorified cheerleader without the uniform, and he wanted nothing more than to be able to help his friend when he needed him. Unfortunately, due to his character design, there wasn't really a whole lot that he could do, but he still held out hope that one day he would be able to aid Dracaramon. Now his partner was in mortal danger. They all were, and if there was ever a moment where he needed to help his partner, **this** was such a time. Time slowed to a crawl, and Chris felt his digivice begin to heat up as an electrical current crossed his palm. Looking down at it, a thought occurred to Chris.

_In the TV show, these things have always been showed to be doing something else beyond just digivolving a digimon. They've created lassos, energy whips, blocked digivolving, create gateways, heal digimon, heal people, and even damage_ _digital life forms like D-Reaper. Why did the writers never show that more often? Why? Well, whatever! Now's not the time for that sort of thing. If there's something, anything that this digivice can do, **now's** **the time to do it!**_

Chris's digivice suddenly exploded with white light, and a beam shot out from it and connected with Snimon's Twin Sickle attack, scattering its data particles through the air. There was a long pause as everyone, human and digimon, ring controlled and non alike, processed this unexpected turn of events. Dracaramon's eyes met Chris's, and the two shared a grin.

_Huh,_ thought Chris. _Who would have thought?_

Dracaramon chuckled as he brought his attention around to the Snimon that hung in the air. His scales parted, revealing the compartments that were hidden beneath them.

_All right. Let's finish thi… hold on._ Dracaramon suddenly sniffed the air. _Is something burning?_

"MAKE WAY!!!" Shouted a loud female voice as a flaming horse like figure tore its way out of a clump of trees, a figure jumping off its back as the horse raced towards Tyrannomon, flames swirling around her in the form of a stampeding herd of horses, snorting and neighing loudly.

**"Hades Herd!"** Shouted the new arrival, and the flames impacted with the Tyrannomon, and his data pattern shattered instantly under the assault. Chris raised his digivice to analyze the digimon.

**Isiramon **

**Stage: Armor/Courage **

**Type: Vaccine**

**Special Attacks: Hooves of Damnation, Hades Herd**

_What the…?_ Wondered Chris._ An armor digimon? I didn't think that they were going to show up yet. At least not until Davis got Veemon to armor digivolve. Where are the others anyway, and who is that kid… oh. Wait. It's Kaio. Darn._

Chris waved at his fellow OC, sighing mentally at this weird, but not altogether bad turn of events. He would much rather have had Ryan around to back him, but seeing as how he and his partner had just been fighting a losing battle against three champion level digimon, Kaio was a more than welcome appearance. Heck, even Rika would have been good. Well, right up until the battle was won at any rate.

_At least Kaio isn't Rika,_ thought Chris with a small smile on his face. Returning his attention to the battle, he saw that Dracaramon had just shot Snimon out of the sky with his Scale Blaze attack, and was currently pummeling him with Diamond Claw, shattering the Dark Ring that was strapped to him a second later, followed shortly thereafter by Monochromon as Isiramon rained a torrent of fireballs down on the giant dino. Kaio walked over to Chris.

"Sorry about the Tyrannomon," she said. "Arbomon doesn't use her Armor forms a whole lot, so she's not used to that much power."

Chris blinked. "You're telling me that she can digivolve to Ultimate and Mega and handle that kind of strength without much trouble, but when it comes to _Armor…_?"

Kaio huffed. "It all has to do with experience with a form, and she doesn't have that much when it comes to Armor Digivolving. I'm a Tamer, remember? Armor digivolving isn't something that I normally do. My creator, Digital-Dragon-Master only gave me a set of digi-egg cards on the off chance that she might want to write a season crossover fic."

Chris nodded. "Pretty smart."

"Yeah, she can be. She may be an over-protective author with an intense fixation on parental guidance for her OC's but in this case I'm glad for it…"

"Um… excuse me?"

Kaio and Chris both looked over at Taichi, Agumon, and Gatomon.

"Hey, Tai," said Kaio with a smile. Chris coughed.

"Uh… actually, it's _Taichi_."

"Really? Man, this whole _having doubles_ thing can get pretty annoying. How come we don't have doubles?"

"Union rules," said Chris shrugging. "At any rate, for some reason, _Taichi_ doesn't remember us…"

"What?" Kaio raised an eyebrow.

"Hey," said Taichi. "Would one of you mind telling me what's going on here? Like, who are you? How do you know who I am? What's this _Armor digivolving_ thing that you guys were talking about? And what do you mean by _doubles_?"

Kaio's eyes became as saucers.

"Wow. You weren't kidding."

"I usually don't," said Chris. Shortly afterwards, his digivice began beeping and he took a look at it. Kaio watched over his shoulder as he brought up the scanning program. It displayed a red dot on the halo-screen.

"Hey," said Kaio. "Is that…?"

"I think it is," said Chris. "The Digi-Egg of Courage."

"Would one of you… _please_… answer me?!" Said Tai once again in growing irritation. Kaio groaned.

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How it is that they were able to dodge most of the questions that Tai had asked them still surprised Kaio to no end. Looking over at Chris, she couldn't help but feel a new respect for the boy. He had pretty much come to their rescue, making an excuse that was so waterlogged with scientific phrases involving transdimensional space and time travel (that he had later claimed to have burrowed from Sci-Fi shows like Star Trek) that he had completely and totally confused, yet somehow convinced Taichi and his two digital companions that he must have been telling the truth. Kaio grinned. It undoubtedly helped that the goggle wearing teen had no head for science, but even _she_ couldn't help but be impressed by Chris's so-called _explanation_. Although she was somewhat confused as to the reasoning behind why he didn't just come out and tell the truth. Actually, scratch that. She could see it from his point of view. For whatever reasons, Taichi, Gatomon, and Agumon had been stripped of their memories of the FanFic Domain and were regressed to their original personalities from the second season of Digimon, and they didn't need the complications that it entailed should Taichi and the others think that they were crazy. It didn't bode well, Kaio felt. With the possibility looming large that they were cut off from the FanFic Domain, the idea of having to live and fight their way through an entire season didn't really appeal to her. Would they have to fight Kimeramon? Black WarGreymon? Arukenimon and Mummymon? MaloMyotismon? And what would happen once they reached the end of the line? Start all over again like that movie _Groundhog Day_? Or would they just continue, and never find a way back? Heck, for that matter, what did their presence here suddenly mean? Did they change things just by being here? And would it be for the better? Or for the worst?

The answers to these questions could be very important. Of that, Kaio was certain.

For now though, the important thing was to find the Digi-Egg of Courage, get Tai to touch it so that he could release the three digivices, get Davis down into the digital world, and work things out from there. Yeah. Piece of cake.

Right?

_Oh yeah,_ thought Kaio as she gripped her D-Arc. _This is going to be fun._

Kaio couldn't help but take irony from the fact that she had promised her author that she'd call her if she ran into any trouble. Now, here she was, in trouble with no way (at present) to call home. Kaio could laugh at it.

And she did, which caused Chris, Taichi, Gatomon, and Agumon to look at her strangely. Arbomon just walked on nonchalant, with a look on her face that said _yeah, whatever._

"Don't worry," said Arbomon. "She's always like this."

Gatomon's right ear twitched.

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The Digimon Emperor had been keeping an eye on the _Digidestined_ as they made their way towards through the forest. He had already sent dispatched another servant to the area, this time with a greater emphasis on _capture and detain_ rather than annihilate. He still wanted that one child and his partner for observation and questioning. And, more importantly, experimentation. He had seen the effects of the boy's digivice, and that intrigued him. He also wanted to know how he was able to digivolve his partner despite the presence of the Dark Digivice and a Control Spire, and not only that, all the way to the Ultimate level as well. And, more importantly, how an Ultimate was able to shrug off the affects of the Dark Ring.

The Digimon Emperor ran through the last recorded sensor readings. The data was meager at best, but he was starting to believe that it was quite possible that the power of a fully evolved digimon was too much for the Dark Rings to handle. So what was he to do in order to compensate? Did he need a multitude of Dark Rings working together in concert to control such a powerful digimon? Or a ring of a different design?

_Decisions, decisions…_

Oh well. He'd find out soon enough once he got his hands on that kid and his pet digimon. It would take some time for his slave to get there, but it would be worth it. And in the mean time, should the other children prove to be a little more than he could handle, even with the power of his empire behind him, he had the beginnings of a vaster project than the new Dark Rings. Typing in a few commands into the darkness, he called up a new file program and gave it a name.

Project Kimera.

It was perfect.

_First things first though…_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Kaio, Chris, and Taichi entered the cave with the digimon, traveling through it for a bit until they entered an expansive cavern that held, in its center, what looked like a Digi-Egg that Kaio and Chris recognized all to well. Kaio turned to Taichi to tell him that he had to touch it, but soon realized that she needn't have bothered. The boy approached it on his own.

"Look at that!" Exclaimed Agumon in surprise, indicating the strange red colored Digi-Egg that had a large spike protruding from it.

"That's weird, it has the Crest of Courage on it," said Taichi. "Is it an egg?"

"I never saw an egg with a spike in it," said Agumon.

Over by the tunnel entrance, Kaio and Chris exchanged glances. This was literally, history in the making.

"It must have been rough on the chicken that laid that thing," said Gatomon. Taichi walked up to it and bent down, grasping it with both hands. Kaio and Chris tensed. The moment of destiny was at hand.

"Let's have a closer look at this thing."

As soon as Taichi made contact with the egg, it burst into a bright orange light, causing everyone but Kaio and Chris to shout in surprise. The light soon receded, leaving the digi-egg with three glowing objects hovering above it. The three objects began to ascend towards the hole in the cave's ceiling. Taichi watched the lights as they floated upwards.

"They look like fireflies," he said, and then suddenly they shot out of the cave. "Or really fast ones!"

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In the real world…

Four children stood in front of a computer. Something had just happened. Something that had once been thought might not happen again, or at least this soon. Something… oh, why don't I just let the characters explain it. They're better about it than I am.

"We're going back to the digital world! Prodigious!" Exclaimed an energetic voice from a teenage boy in a green school uniform. The way he spoke and carried himself suggested that he was quite intelligent. Around him were gathered two younger children, two boys and a girl.

"I'm goin' with you!" Said a dark haired boy with rectangular goggles strapped to his forehead. The way he said it sounded like a demand. The other three looked at him incredulously. One of the boys, a blonde haired one with a hat and a yellow and blue long-sleeved shirt was the one who responded to the other boy.

"That's impossible," he said. "Not just anybody can go you know, you need a digivice."

The dark haired boy with goggles growled in frustration at the unfairness of it all.

"Listen TC! If you can go, so can I!"

It was at that moment that the computer screen that all four of them were at glowed and released three colored lights of blue, red, and yellow that shot outwards towards the children. The blue colored one aiming at the boy with goggles as though in answer to his desire to travel with the others while the remaining two exited the room posthaste.

The boy with the goggles quickly got over his initial shock as he realized that he had a strange device in his hand, and he showed it to the other children.

"Whoa. What's this?"

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In the digital world…

Chris breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he had reminded Taichi to contact Izzy and apprise him of the situation. So far, everything was back on track. Or was it? Frowning, he tried to figure out what it was that he felt was missing and he did a quick head count.

_Let's see… Taichi, Gatomon, Agumon, Pata… hold it!_ Chris did another head count.

"Hey," he said. "Where's Patamon?"

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In the shadows behind the children, a familiar digimon that resembled a hamster watched the children, relaying what it saw to the Digimon Emperor through its glowing red eyes. A dark ring was around it.

_Soon, my master's servant will arrive…_

7


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I don't own AeroVeedramon, Agumon, Agunimon, Airdramon… (continues on like this for every digimon in alphabetical order for the next hour or so, give or take a few minutes)

The Four Seasons: Chapter 23

Third Arc: 02

**Armor Up**: Part 3

Chris looked at Gatomon with a shocked expression on his face, an expression that was matched by everyone else in the cave.

"What do you mean, _Patamon's been turned into one of the Digimon Emperor's slaves_? Or did I hear you wrong? Kaio? Did I hear her wrong?"

Kaio shook her head numbly, trying to regain some measure of coherent thought. No, Chris and the others did _not_ mishear Gatomon.

"This is wrong," said Kaio.

"You said it," said Taichi. "I can only imagine how Yamato's brother, Takeru is going to react once he finds out…"

"No, that's not what I'm talking about," said Kaio. Taichi, Gatomon, and Agumon turned to her. Chris and Caramon both nodded in understanding, while a short ways off, Arbomon eyed the cave's entrance suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" Asked Taichi.

"It's wrong because it wasn't supposed to happen," said Kaio. "Patamon never fell under the control of a dark ring. He almost did once, but he got rescued before it was too late."

"Does this have anything to do with all that weird scientific mumbo jumbo that your friend Chris was going on about earlier?"

"Hey!"

"Sorry. But you gotta admit, it was pretty long winded and complicated sounding."

"True…"

Kaio rolled her eyes and groaned before making her reply. "Look, all I know is, from everything we heard and saw from before, this _didn't_ happen. But then, a lot of things around here were supposed to happen differently. For example, Gatomon was supposed to have lost her tail ring."

"Huh?" Gatomon's ears perked up at this. Chris rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Sorry," he said. "Well, sort of. I didn't know that I had been _thrown backwards in time_. So giving her a helping hand was something of a reflex…"

"Do you see me complaining?" Said Gatomon, feeling slightly miffed that the kids wouldn't have lent her a hand had they known otherwise.

Chris just shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the ground. In truth, he would have helped out anyways. But until he and Kaio could find a way to restore their friend's memories, the use of the Temporal Prime Directive would have to be their cover story. Kind of stupid in Chris's opinion, but it was all that he could think of in so short a time.

"I hardly think that it matters right now," said Chris, looking back up. "Someone's apparently messing around with how things have been going. Kaio? Do you mind if I have a word with you in private?"

Kaio nodded and the two walked off towards the cave's exit, with Arbomon trailing behind them. Gatomon watched them carefully.

"So what do you think Gatomon?" Asked Taichi. "Are they on the level with us?"

Gatomon's ears twitched irritably.

"I don't know. I don't doubt that they were telling the truth about knowing us, though the blonde haired boy got Hikari's name wrong when I first met him…" Taichi raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't interrupt the feline Champion. "… But I _do_ have the feeling that they're holding out on us. Maybe its because they claim that they're from the future or something."

Taichi nodded, though something tickled the back of his mind. Something that the kid named Chris had said earlier about something called _the FanFic Express_. Just what the heck was that? And why did it sound so familiar?

Taichi's digivice began beeping suddenly. Taking it out he found a number of signals approaching the cave.

"I think that the others are coming," he said before turning towards the mysterious egg that the strange Digidestined had labeled _the Digi-egg of Courage_. "I don't think that things going to be going anywhere anytime soon, so we might as well get a move on if we're going to meet them."

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"Well," said Chris once he was sure that they were out of range of Gatomon's hearing. "I'd say that it's safe to say that we landed in one very warped version of the TV show."

"Gee. You think?" Said Kaio sarcastically. "What was your first clue?"

Chris frowned in irritation but chose to continue with his point rather than start an argument.

"You know, this seems strangely similar to what happened during the Fable War. Only for some reason it doesn't look like we're in the FanFic Domain anymore."

Kaio raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"Just this. Being OC's, our life spans are different from Canon Characters. We can live for however long we have an audience, but CC's are recorded history with a TV show and/or stories behind them. For all intents and purposes they might as well be immortal."

"What's your point?"

"My point is, I'm starting to feel a little bit… I don't know. Weird. _Drained_ I guess would be the more appropriate term for it. I didn't notice it at first, but I've had some time to think about it. I feel like I've been cut off from something. Like a power source. And after fiddling around with Caramon's data wavelengths so that he could digivolve to Ultimate in the presence of Control Spires I definitely feel that _something's_ wrong with me. This whole place feels different too. It doesn't have the same feel as the FanFic Domain. It's like we're operating under a different user or domain name or something like that."

"Or maybe your just being paranoid," said Kaio, though now that Chris had brought it up, she too felt like something was missing. Well, as soon as they returned to the _real world_, they'd see about contacting their respective authors and getting this mess cleared up.

"Well… maybe I am," said Chris. "I certainly hope so. On another note, I can't help but wonder if an author was responsible for what happened back on the boat."

Kaio raised an eyebrow. "Do you think it was?"

Chris shrugged. "I don't know much that exists out there with that kind of power, except for virus programs, hackers, and the federal government. And another thing; you weren't in Odaiba during the Fable War when we fought the Dark Masters but three authors joined the party in a fight against us. We beat them, but no one's heard from them since that time, though from what I can tell their accounts are _still_ active."

"Hmmm…" Kaio pondered this for a moment. "Well. We should think about it for a bit, but right now our first priorities are to restore our friends memories, find the others, and get home. Anything else is secondary…"

"HEY YOU TWO!" Called out Taichi as he entered the tunnel. "I'VE PICKED UP THE SIGNALS OF THE OTHERS, SO I'M GOING OUT TO MEET THEM! YOU GOING TO COME ALONG?"

Chris looked at Kaio. "You wanna?"

"Sure. Why not? It beats just cooling on our heels for the moment, and Taichi might need our help if he gets attacked. Agumon can't digivolve right now."

"But in the show he wasn't atta…"

"I'd say that it's safe to say that we departed from the show a while ago. Nothing can be taken at script value now."

"HEY! YOU GUYS ALL RIGHT IN THERE?!"

"YEAH!" Shouted Kaio. "JUST A SECOND! WE'RE COMING!"

Kaio and Chris exchanged glances before heading off to meet Taichi. After a second, Kaio turned to see that Arbomon hadn't moved yet. She seemed transfixed by something.

"Arbomon? Everything okay?"

The mythical cat digimon shook herself and started after Kaio, looking over her shoulder after a moment before continuing.

"It's… nothing, Kaio. It's nothing."

Kaio raised an eyebrow. _Oookay…_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

The Digimon Emperor had listened carefully to what the two children had said, taking it in piece by piece.

_Hmmm… authors? FanFic Domain? Canon Characters? OC's? There's something different about them. But then that cat digimon appeared to have sensed my spy so its quite possible that they made all that up to confuse me. No matter. I'll have what I want from them soon enough. Now, is my agent in place yet? Perfect…_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Chris, Kaio, Arbomon, Taichi, Caramon, Gatomon, and Agumon had just exited the cave when Chris and Kiao's digivices suddenly went off. Reacting on pure instinct, Kaio leapt forward and shoved Taichi and Agumon out of the way before rolling to the ground herself. Chris and Gatomon did likewise, but Chris's reactions were only a heartbeat behind the felines, and within seconds a sticky net grabbed both him and Caramon before lifting him into the air. Kaio looked up in horror as she saw a giant spider with a skull on its back that she recognized all to well.

_A Dokugumon…_ She thought, placing the name with the mon. _No. CHRIS!_

Whipping out her Digi-Egg of Courage card, Kaio had begun to slide it through her D-Arc when movement caught her eye.

_Wha…?_

**"Air Shot!"**

A burst of air impacted with Kaio's hand, knocking her digivice to the ground and bending the card as it joined it. Cursing Kaio looked to the source of the attack and was surprised to see what it was.

_Wha…? Patamon? But that's not his attack… Oh. Wait. Duh. Everyone here has been using Japanese names, so it only makes sense that he would… hold on! This could be TK's Patamon!_

"ARBOMON!"

"Already on it!" Said the mythical feline as it lunged at Patamon

**"Starlight Slash!"** Arbomon's claws glowed blue and slash-like energy beams burst from them, flying right at the Ring controlled Patamon, who simply evaded it. Fortunately, Arbomon had expected this, and had another attack ready for him.

**"Forgotten Vengeance!"** Arbomon's eyes lit up red, and a second later a crimson cat spirit hit Patamon dead on, shattering the ring. Patamon fell to the ground with a cry.

Quickly retrieving her D-Arc, Kaio looked up and cried out in dismay as she saw that the Dokugumon had disappeared with Chris and Caramon.

"Where'd they go?!" Demanded Kaio frantically. "Did anyone see where they went?"

"The Dokugumon was climbing up the mountainside," said Agumon. "Gatomon took off after it but…"

**"Poison Thread!"**

The cry of the cat digimon could be heard, and within moments Gatomon came crashing to the ground. Growling Kaio took out another card from her deck box.

"I'm going after them. You guys stay here and wait for the others to show up."

"But…" began Taichi, but Kaio overrode him.

"NO _BUTS_! I don't know what's going on here, or why things are turning out so differently, but it's important that Davis get that Digi-Egg once he gets here! It'll save a lot of questions and problems in the future!"

With that, Kaio slid the card through her D-Arc, not bothering to see what Taichi was going to do or say in regards to what she had just told him.

"DIGI-MODIFY! DIGI-EGG OF KNOWLEDGE, ACTIVATE!"

A-R-M-O-R D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N

"ARBOMON, ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOOO… HARINMON!"

The cat feline burst into light as her body began to change form once more. Instead of transforming into the fiery horse from earlier her shape began to take on one that was more of an oxen, and when the light died down this appearance was made certain. Before them stood a deep green colored oxen that was slightly larger than her other armor form of Isiramon. Her fur was long and shaggy, and she had a brown faceplate covering her eyes from her forehead to her nose, and where her eyes should have been were two stars. Behind her flitted three long tails, and her shoulders were protected by strong looking brown armor that seemed to merge with her fur in such a way that it was almost impossible to tell where it stopped. Taichi, Gatomon, and Agumon stared at this second, and startling transformation as Kaio hopped up onto her partner's back.

"Let's go Harinmon!" She commanded before giving the armored digimon a good kick in the ribs for motivation. The oxen grunted before jumping upwards, using its mastery over the earth to scale the mountain.

Taichi continued to watch for a moment longer before he remembered that the others were still coming. Something else came to his attention as well. Something so bizarre that it was almost impossible to think on.

_Hold on. Did she just say that my sister's boyfriend was going to move the Digi-Egg with the Crest of Courage on it? That can't be right._

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

In the depths of his fortress, the Digimon Emperor laughed at the brilliance of his plan. Soon the child would arrive, and soon he would have his secrets.

Ken Ichijouji, the Digimon Emperor, laughed within the shadows of his command center.

6


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: How can _anyone_ on this site claim to own Digimon?

The Four Seasons: Chapter 24

Third Arc: 02

**Armor Up**: Part 4

Caramon tore at the webbing with his fangs, but his attempts proved futile, and the only result that he got were strands of the sticky threads stuck between his teeth. Spitting, the little lizard looked up at Chris with an apologetic look.

"Sorry," he said. "This stuff's pretty tough."

"Don't worry about it," said Chris. "Even though we're being taken to Ken's base, we might be able to work something out with him. In fact, if he can just cooperate, or at least listen to us, we might be able to use this to our advantage."

"That's _if_ he listens to us, Chris. Or rather you," Caramon looked down sadly. "Chances are he'll just slap on another Dark Ring on me. Why don't you try digivolving me again?"

"I wish it were that simple bud," said Chris. "But you've already used up a lot of energy today, and after tangling with a Dark Ring and three digimon at once, I don't think that you're up to it."

"We could at least _try_…"

Chris nodded slowly as he brought out his digivice. _We might as well. After all, Ken **will** probably just enslave Caramon again. Besides, it's not like we have anything to lose…_ "AAAAH!"

Chris suddenly screamed in pain and surprise as Dokugumon accidentally bashed his web net against a rock as he climbed upwards, causing Chris to lose his grip on his digivice. Shock filled his system as it tumbled out of the netting and landed on the ground. He grabbed for it futilely, only to have his hand get scraped on a jagged piece of stone that protruded from out of the ground. Chris pulled his hand back with a hiss.

_Crap,_ he thought as he bit down on his tongue.

"Chris? You all right?"

Chris looked over at Caramon, and then at his hand. There was some blood, as well as the faint beginnings of a bruise swelling up, but other than that…

"I'm fine," he said finally. "But I lost my digivice. Looks like we've got no other option but to wait until we're at the Emperor's home base and _hope_ that he'll listen to reason. Either that or we could keep trying to escape from the webs…"

Caramon nodded and went back to chewing and clawing at Dokugumon's webs, knowing that odds were he was just wasting his time. Chris soon joined him, for lack of anything better to do.

_On the bright side, at least the Digimon Emperor won't be able to use my digivice against the others._

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Harinmon struggled up the mountainside, guided by Kaio's directions as she followed the signal of Chris's digivice, the only slim hope that they had of finding her two friends right now, though she was worried. Worried because for some reason, Chris's signal had stopped moving. Of course, that didn't necessarily mean anything _bad_ had happened to them; after all, Chris could have digivolved Caramon and let Dokugumon have it, and now they were just hanging off a cliff or a boulder or something.

_Yeah, that's it. No big deal._

_Right?_

So why couldn't she shake the feeling that there was something wrong here?

Shaking her head, Kaio looked back towards the signal. They were getting closer now. Within a few minutes they would be practically on top of them. Heck, they should be able to see them by now…

Kaio looked up and frowned. She saw… nothing.

_Where are they? Where's that signal coming from?_

Kaio got no answers as Harinmon continued to climb up the mountainside a few minutes longer until Kaio finally told her to halt as her D-Arc read that they were now right where the signal was being emitted. Kaio looked around with a frown, not knowing why the signal had led her here if there was nothing to see.

_Maybe there's something like a digital barrier here, like what Piximon used during the first season… hold on. What's that?_

Catching the glint of sunlight off of something reflective, Kaio urged her partner to towards it so she could get a closer look. As Harinmon moved in, Kaio drew in a breath. What she saw, caught on a chunk of granite, was Chris's digivice.

Kaio let out a scream of frustration and anger that reverberated across the land for miles around.

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Ken smiled evilly as the Dokugumon arrived at his headquarters with its prize intact. There was still the matter of the other children to deal with though, but he had the perfect solution for that. Somewhat standard and predictable, but they certainly didn't appear to be a threat right now. Especially when the only two digimon with any real power and digivolving capability were no longer near them.

_Hmmm… Who'll destroy you? Eenie, meanie, miney… **Mon!**_

Ken pressed a button on his control panel, releasing a beast from one of his many prisons and sending it out into the wild to do his bidding.

"Attack… **_Devidramon_**!"

With one mighty leap, the dark, demonic digimon took to the air, heading in the direction of the Digidestined.

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"Kaio," said Harinmon. "Are you all right?"

Kaio shook her head angrily. "No. The Digimon Emperor's got Chris, and with the knowledge that he has about the TV show Ken might be able to find a way to prevent his defeats by the Digidestined… he might even get the Dark Spirals out there sooner than he normally would."

"Doesn't he normally get them by episode nine?"

"_Normally_ being the key word in that sentence," said Kaio as she reached down and picked up Chris's digivice and pocketed it. "Things are different now. Like I said earlier, we can't depend on the original script taking place anymore…"

"Uh… Kaio?"

"Yes?"

"Is it just me, or do I see a Devidramon heading towards where Taichi and the others are?"

"_WHAT?!_"

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Chris and Caramon landed on the ground hard as Dokugumon tore open his web net and dumped them on the ground. With a groan, Chris got up on his hands and knees and looked up, only to find that the Digimon Emperor was standing right before him with a cruel smile on his face. Wormmon stood behind him, a worried look on his face.

_Oh, **that's **cliché,_ he thought. _Sure. Dump me on the ground so that it'll look like I'm in a submissive or weak position. Man, did Ken have ego trips or what when he was a bad guy?_

Chris and Caramon started to get up on their feet when a strong pair of hands gripped them and forced them back down. Chris wasn't at all surprised that they belonged to Bakemon.

"Well, well, well," began the _Digimon Emperor_. "Look who's trespassed in my garden. I should have you destroyed for that, but lucky for you, I find you interesting enough to allow to you to live. However, I'm afraid that I can't have you roaming around either, and I'm sure that you have _lots_ of tales to tell me…"

Chris rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah. _Lots_ of tales; stories that will leave you _amazed_ and _wordless_…

"BE SILENT!" Ken shouted as he brought out his whip. "YOU WILL SPEAK WHEN SPOKEN TO!"

"That's funny," Caramon said. "I thought that you were speaking to him. Does that mean that you were talking to me?"

Ken growled like a vicious animal as he uncoiled the whipcord and let fly.

**_CRACK!_**

"NO!" Shouted Chris as he struggled to get to his feet. It was no good. The Bakemon's grip was just too strong for him. Next to him, Caramon groaned as he slumped to the ground.

"Just for that," said the Digimon Emperor. "You will get the honor of becoming one of my slaves." Snapping his fingers a dark ring appeared from out of the shadows and began to float towards the little lizard. Caramon felt tears brimming in his eyes.

_Not again…_

"NO! DON'T DO IT, KEN!"

_What?_

Ken, the Digimon Emperor turned towards the blonde haired boy, a thoughtful expression on his face, though it belied the surprise that he felt.

"How do you know my name, boy?" He asked as his curiosity was now finally peaked. With a motion of his hand Ken made the Dark Ring pause in its journey, a silent term in negotiation. Talk, or Caramon becomes a slave.

Chris now looked uncertain. He wasn't sure what he should say, or how much he should tell. It was obvious that he couldn't very well say that he and Caramon were from the future, like they had told Taichi, as Ken either wouldn't believe them or would find a way to use this to his advantage to rule the digital world. On the other hand, Chris felt fairly certain that if he told Ken the truth, or even the lie, Ken would just enslave Caramon anyway. Looking over at his partner, he saw Caramon shaking his head.

_No._

_But… if I don't tell him something… wait. That's it. I've got an idea._

Trying to hold back a grin, Chris looked up at Ken Ichijouji, his face full of confidence as he prepared to give one of his best act of his character career.

"You're a fool Ken," Chris said, and the Digimon Emperor's face went white with surprise. "You're playing with forces that you can't even _begin_ to imagine or even understand. You think that you're using them, but it's really the other way around. Those forces that are only using you to achieve their own ends. The Dark Rings, the Control Spires… you may think of them as the products of your own brilliant mind _Ichijouji_, but let's hear the truth shall we? Where did they _really_ come from? I happen to know that those Control Spires aren't what you think they are. They're not some symbol of your authority, and they sure aren't just a power source for your Dark Rings either. They're really meant to shift the borders of the Digital World and _you_ don't even realize it. Tell me, _boy genius_, why is that? Why do you know so little about your own creati…?"

"ENOUGH!"

Chris shut up, but a rebellious grin graced his features. Ken Ichijouji looked angry now, and that might keep him from thinking clearly about his next move. If so, more power to him.

_My creator **so** owes me a raise for this,_ Chris thought.

Ken eyed Chris carefully as he felt his rage starting to simmer down. What this boy had just said was… _interesting_. Ken wasn't one to be introspective, but for some reason what this child had just said about his Control Spires had caught his attention. Though why he felt that this was important was beyond him at the moment. Smiling now Ken had the Bakemon frisk him for his digivice, only to come up empty.

"No digivice, huh?" He said aloud. "I'm surprised that you were able to get your runt of a partner to digivolve at all. Not that it matters now. Pretty soon he'll be digivolving again… for _me_!"

Snapping his fingers once again, the ring flew towards Caramon and snapped around his neck once more. Chris winced and closed his eyes, not wanting to see what happened to his friend.

_In all honesty, I am not surprised…_

"You will tell me all you know," said Ken quietly. "Or else. Bakemon, take him down to the dungeons and lock him up! Wormmon, escort our new _guest_ to his new home. I have a few tests that I'd like to run on him."

As the Bakemon dragged Chris away, the blond haired OC found the strength of will to struggle against them and shout out a warning to the Digimon Emperor.

"KEN! DON'T DO THIS! IF YOU KEEP GOING DOWN THIS PATH YOU'LL BE PLAYING INTO THE HANDS OF YOUR REAL ENEMIES! BEWARE THE DARK POOL KEN! **_BEWARE THE DARK POOL!_"**

But Ken either didn't hear, or didn't care, and soon he disappeared into the shadows of his base as Chris continued to futilely struggle against the grip of his captors.

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The next couple of days passed by slowly. The Digimon Emperor interrogated his prisoner during that time, trying to get answers from him while at the same time sicking his partner on defenseless towns in the digital world. He had yet figured out a way to control his Ultimate form, but he was closing in on one, he was sure of it. He had recently redesigned a new appearance for the Dark Ring that would increase its power ten fold. Dark Ring? More like… a _Dark Spiral_. All he needed to do now was test it, but that could wait. Ken grimaced as he thought of the Digidestined that had escaped his clutches during that time, and especially of that girl who was the first to Armor Digivolve. She seemed to have taken a special dislike towards him, constantly harassing his troops and demanding to know where her friend, Chris was.

Not that the Digimon Emperor paid attention to her demands of course.

_Today, whatever it takes… I **will** get answers out of you!_

As the Digimon Emperor rounded the corner and approached the cellblock that had now become familiar to him his mouth gaped in shock!

In the prison where he had kept his first human prisoner… was _no one_!

"But… but how?!"

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Chris looked down and smiled at Wormmon as they made their way through the tunnels, heading towards a secret exit. He knew that the insect digimon would come through for him sooner or later. He wasn't able to do anything for Dracaramon since he was currently out in the field, raising another village in the Emperor's name, but that was a bridge that he'd cross once he got there. No need to count his chickens before they hatched, or something to that extent. I'd go on, but the clichés only distract from the storyline.

As they neared the exit, Chris stopped.

"Thanks for your help Wormmon. I owe ya one."

"Just do what you can to restore my master to his true self," said Wormmon. "If you really know how to reach him than promise me that you'll do that. That's all I ask."

"No problem, Wormmon. I'll see what I can do for him."

"He wasn't always like this you know," said Wormmon. "He used to be a kind, gentle boy…"

"I know," said Chris nodding. "That's why it's important that I try to hook up with the others. And by the way, if you hear anything about a _Kimera_ project, do what you can to stop that, okay? Trust me, if that falls through he'll be making a huge mistake."

_Of course, that mistake was what reformed him in the first place, but seeing as how Ken has accelerated his Dark Spiral agenda, I can only imagine what might happen with Kimeramon. At this stage of the show, I doubt that the others are going to be ready to tangle with him._

"I will," said Wormmon, though he knew that it was already a little late for that. Oh well. He'd make do with what little time he had left.

"Thanks, Wormmo… AAAGH!" Suddenly, without warning, Chris's body broke into static, and with another scream he vanished into the ether.

Wormmon looked at this sudden occurrence with shock and uncertainty.

_This didn't look good,_ he thought miserably.

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Kaio and Harinmon ran through the plains of the digital world, looking for any sign of the Digimon Emperors base. The others weren't too happy with her going off alone as she now almost always did during the last couple of missions that they've had since Davis got his Digi-Egg, but Kaio didn't care. She had already seen this episode before, and had even pointed them in the direction of the temple where _Takeru _and _Hikari_ could find their own Digi-Eggs. After that, she had left them to it, and proceeded on her own mission. She was more than grateful for the distraction, as it served as a way to get her away from the others. They were a little bit different from what she remembered, and it was more than a little disconcerting. Takeru seemed a little bit bitter (in addition, it turned out that he was dating Yolie, who was also sort-of flirting with Cody for some reason, despite the obvious age difference), and Hikari and Davis were so lovey-dovey that it made her want to tear her eyes out. Heck, they were practically kissing every five seconds. It was almost like watching a bad soap opera.

_Why couldn't it have been a **good** Daikari writer who kidnapped them? At least then I'd be able to tolerate the overabundance of emotional soppiness that they have going on. Ugh… I still can't believe that he or she had Takeru paired up with Yolie. And what's with the combining of subbed and dubbed character names? Well, I don't know why I even ask… Most of the subs didn't come along when the vacation trip was called for… Rrrrgh… This is **so** frustrati… AARRRRGH!_

Without warning Kaio began screaming in pain. Harinmon was about to ask her what was up when she felt agony tear through her body. Crashing into the ground, their forms phased into TV static before disappearing altogether, the last of their screams echoed upon the wind.

After a moment the air was once again still with silence.

7


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer:I don't own Digimon. Maybe in another dimension, but not this one.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 25

Third Arc: The Authors viewpoint

**Between Scripts**

_"We've got a problem."_

_"You're telling me. I just have everything set up for my season and suddenly these OC's show up at a crucial point and ruin everything. I mean, come on! I had the scene all set up for my coupling too. It's not fair!"_

_"…"_

_"What's that look for?"_

_"Our **entire** plan is in danger, and not just from the OC's, and the only thing that **you're** worried about is that you're coupling preference has been messed up?"_

_"Hey! Back off! They didn't get together in the show or the movie, and I wanted to do something that would get them together early on, but nooo. I don't get that! Instead what I get is some strange kid who pops out of nowhere at **the** wrong moment and all of a sudden the script settles on him because he happens to be in the right spot. It's… it's… oh dear lord… this is unforgivable! It's blasphemy! He must **die**!"_

_"Why is it that whenever we talk about couplings you treat it like it's a religion?"_

_"You mean there's a difference?"_

_"Rrrrgh… never mind! The main reason why I'm here, why I'm sure that we have a problem, one **much more important** than yours…"_

_"You don't have to yell at me…"_

_"… Whatever. The problem is in season three. It seems that we have an… **author's Avatar** there…"_

_"Great. Two for the price of one. Oh well, I was going to be heading down there anyway…"_

_"Actually, I think we should let Mike handle it. He says that he'll be logging onto the net pretty soon."_

_"Why him?"_

_"Because I'm at least certain that he won't screw things up any more than they already are, duh!"_

_"Well, what about the system?"_

_"I've already got it doing a search for them, but seeing as how it hasn't gone after the others yet I don't think that we can count on it. At present it's in the digital world, in close proximity to **you-know-who**."_

_"Maybe it wasn't a good idea to integrate Milleniummon's data into the system…"_

_"How many times do we have to go over this? It was the only way to solve certain problems. 'Course, the fact that it went and picked up the OC's to go along with the CC's and refused to filter them out certainly speaks for your argument…"_

_"Hmmmph. How soon can Mike get there?"_

_"As soon as he deals with his 'current assignment'. His words exactly. I can only assume that it has something to do with his being at the Lord of Fantasy's home. Did he tell you anything when you talked to him?"_

_"Just that he was doing surveillance and had planned to get rid of one particular gnat who could prove to be a problem. Namely the author Dean."_

_"Ah. Best of luck to him then."_

_"To Dean or to Mike?"_

_"What do you think?"_

_"Point taken. All right. Do as you see fit. I'll keep an eye on things and move on to Frontier, but I want you to keep me updated on season three. Should things not be going as I want them to go…"_

_"Yeah, yeah. I know. I'll keep you informed."_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Mike looked up at Sarah and Mark as he raised his finger above the mouse's button before clicking on it once again. With that one click, the last of Dean's stories was deleted. Hiding a smile, Mike looked back up at his two '_companions_' before stretching.

_It's time to take care of business,_ he thought as he typed in a few commands before he prepared himself.

Assuming a panicked look he glanced at the others again.

"Deans in trouble!" Mike exclaimed. "I'm goin' in to help him!"

Sarah and Mark spun around.

"What?" Said Sarah in surprise. "WAIT!"

It was too late. Mike had already used his author abilities to join Dean on the network. Sarah rushed over to Mike's computer to join him when suddenly the screen went blank and shut down.

"What the…?" Began Sarah as she looked over at Mark, but it looked like he was experiencing the same problem on his end.

"Blast…" growled Mark as he hit the power button. "I think someone may have hit us with a virus program. I thought you said that you had a firewall built to withstand this sort of thing?"

"I do, but no program's perfect!"

"Sarah, I took a look at that firewall. I have a hard time _believing_ that a virus could have gotten past that thing even if it had a nuclear warhead being piggybacked by all seven Demon Lords _and_ the Dark Masters! You can't tell me that…"

"Whatever! Can you fix it?"

Mark sighed. "It'll take some time, but yeah. I can fix it. You just have to be patient."

_I just hope that Dean and Mike are going to be okay,_ thought Sarah as she attempted to reboot Mike's computer.

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"The Assembly of Fellow Authors will now come to order!" Bellowed Digital-Dragon-Master as she smashed her fist on the desk as though in mock imitation of a court judge. She glared at the other writers as they finally quieted down.

"Now," she began once she was certain that there would be no interruptions. "As you all know, the characters that were supposed to be going on vacation have been abducted by some strange, outside force. Currently we have those characters who didn't join them on the cruise checking the boat out and following an unknown energy trail but I think that they're wasting their time, and that it's safe to say that they've been taken into the new domain zone that is now in our sky."

"But why is it in our sky?" Asked someone from the crowd. Digital Dragon Master narrowed her eyes.

"It's quite probable that whoever is responsible for creating the domain zone shares a link with this web site, allowing accessibility to our links and stories to properly facilitate the data transfer."

"So what do we do about it? Can't we contact the government or the network authorities?"

Digital-Dragon-Master shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry. The government refuses to help us due to the fact that the Canon Characters aren't really ours to begin with, and the new site apparently has a disclaimer on it, so there's no argument over whether or not they can intervene as the new site is in accord with copyright laws. And the Domain Authorities happen to agree as well, but they do tell us that they'll have replacements within the week."

There were a sizable number of complaints over this decision.

"Bull," said another author in the crowd. "You know that they can't be replaced! Well, after a fashion they can, but it won't be the same! And we all know it!"

There was a massive affirmative to this statement. It was true after all, and they all believed it.

"What about the OC's?" Asked another author. "Don't you have one who went on that cruise? Aren't they going to be rescued?"

"That is something that the Domain Authorities are working on. They don't want to incur a network war, so they're trying to establish diplomatic relations with the new site, but their administrators are currently silent. There's no telling how long it will be before we hear from them."

There was a brief silence. One that was swiftly broken like a glass window by a well-struck baseball. Digital-Dragon-Master could almost hear the tinkling as shattered shards tumbled through the air. The straw that broke the proverbial Camel's back was that age-old argument that always gets an author's back up without fail. Feel free to take a guess, but I think the next author's statement speaks for it best.

"It's all the fault of those Sorato's, I'm tellin' ya. They just can't deal with the constant presence of Taiora…"

"Shut up! What the heck do you know, **_Taiora_**? You guys never accepted the fact that Matt married Sora…"

"What're you talkin' about? It's the Takaris! They want to separate their fics and the characters from the Daisukes…"

"Its neither! It's really an OC plot because they want to be with the CC's…"

"So you're saying that it's really one of those whatchamacallems? The perverted sites that grabbed them?"

"It's a Chibi revolt, I'm tellin' ya! I got proof too! This happens right before Chibi Week takes off! You can't tell me that's just chance…"

Digital-Dragon-Master rolled her eyes in exaspiration before she once again began banging her fist on the desk once more to get everyone's attention.

_What was it that Kaio always used to say before she left home? 'Long day just got longer?'_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Dean floated through the void, curled up in a fetal position as his body trembled. The pain had finally stopped in its intensity, leaving behind a series of dull aches and sharp pains, but they were getting better, bit-by-bit. But his resources felt drained. Reaching out with his senses, he tried to find an exit that would deposit him back in the real world, relatively close to where he lived so that he could rest and contact the others and let them know that he was okay. Strangely, he didn't find an exit point. Instead, he found a presence.

Uncurling himself, Dean looked around, and spied some movement.

"Hello?" He called out. "Who's there?"

"Hello there, _Dean_," said a voice that he recognized all to well.

"Wha…? Mike? What're you doing here?"

Mike emerged from the shadows with a grin on his face.

"I'm just here to… _repay_ an old debt." With that, Mike's form promptly shifted, becoming more a cross between a samurai and a knight. In one hand, he carried an obscenely large sword that should have been impossible for him to wield under normal circumstances. Dean frowned. Why did this guy look so familiar? Unless…

"No…"

"Oh, yes…" said Mike in satisfaction as he rushed towards the opposing author. Dean only had enough time to shift into his Avatar form before Mike smashed into him, sending them both spiraling towards the Domain Zone that had recently appeared in the skies above the FanFic Domain. Unbeknownst to either of them, the Domain Zone's aura seemed to grow brighter as energy coursed through it at an accelerated rate. The pair hit the Zone's atmosphere of data, and disappeared with a flash.

5


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: Well, Bandai and Toei haven't sold me the rights to Digimon, so therefore I still don't own it. Nuts.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 26

Third Arc: 03

**Not as Seen on TV**: Part 1

The district of Shinjuku harbors a secret that is well hidden from the public eye. Within the depths of the city stand two towers. Unbeknownst to the inhabitants of Shinjuku, these towers hold within it a secret government agency known as _Hypnos_, whose sole purpose is to monitor incoming and outgoing data between the Earth and the Internet, analyzing it for anything out of the ordinary.

Anything that shouldn't be there.

The world at large is unaware of this, but the information that made up Earth's expansive computer network had created an artificial plain of existence, home to creatures that currently served as marketable children's entertainment known as Digimon. Had they been told that this was the case, Shinjuku's good citizens would have laughed it off, saying that it was impossible.

For those who worked within the confines of Hypnos, digimon were a very real reality, and was one that was not to be taken lightly. A fact that Mitsuo Yamaki, the head of Hypnos, took to heart.

Clicking open a lighter that he held in his hand, a nervous habit that's been with him for the vast majority of his time working for Hypnos, Yamaki looked up at his two operators as they busily typed away at their computer consoles.

"Status report," said Yamaki as he flipped the lighter closed once more. "Anything on those _anomalies _that bio-emerged earlier?"

One of the operators, a red haired woman named Riley answered.

"Negative sir," she said. "They appear to have vanished off of our sensors. Attempting to reestablish tracer lock now."

"Make it quick," said Yamaki as he flicked the lighter open once more. He did not like this. Four bio-emerges in one day, and the most recent two came in pairs, with one showing incredible amounts of strength. The power that last one had made it appear as though it were a ticking time bomb.

_Heaven forbid if that thing continues to roam free throughout the city._

Yamaki looked up at the other operator, a shorthaired brunette. "Talley, send out some agents and have them scour the city for anything out of the ordinary, and have them report back to me as soon as they find something."

"Yes sir!"

_Now, let's see how long you can hide yourselves…_

Yamaki flicked his lighter closed once more with a satisfying click.

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"Stupid piece of junk."

Ryan's head snapped up as John slammed the phone back on its hook and immediately began prying at the casing of the phone box, growling as he used his author abilities to rip it off, causing bits of plastic and metal to fly outwards. All around them people walked, completely oblivious to the children, their act of vandalism on public property, and the strange creatures that they had by their side. The two children were un-phased by this treatment, as it had to do with certain special properties of one Author/Avatar known as John, and as such he had abilities that extended far beyond that of a regular character.

At the moment, he was making use of that power to make sure that the general populace wouldn't notice them.

"Problems?" Asked Ryan.

"Let you know in a second," grumbled John as he fiddled with the wires that connected the phone with the outside world. Ryan shook his head.

"I still don't understand why you wanted to avoid Takato and Henry. You'd think that they'd have the best explanation for Rika's behavior."

John's left eye gave a momentary twitch. "How many times do I have to say this? Something's gone wrong with their memories, and at the moment they personalities have been reset back to how they were when they first started their series. As they are now, they wouldn't believe us if we told them the truth, nor would they be of any use to us."

"Hmmm… you say that they wouldn't believe us about the truth of their existence, but I find that debatable. I mean, what's the difference when it comes to this show? Heck, they already know that digimon are supposed to be a fictional merchandise…"

John finally turned to face Ryan. "But themselves? Give me a break. Takato would just stare at us blankly while Henry would… well, he might actually consider it, but I doubt that he'll believe it for a second. Rika would just sick Renamon on us and upload our partner's data without giving it a second thought. We're better off doing this on our own for now." With that, John turned his attention back to the mess of wires.

"What are you looking for anyway?" Asked Ryan.

"A certain processor chip that's been installed in all payphones across the FanFic Domain. If it's not there then I'll know that it's safe to say that we're not in Kansas anymore."

"Oh." Ryan took a look around, watching the people as they strode by, completely oblivious to his friend's doings. As he waited for John to find the chip his mind began to drift as he took in the world around him. Taking in a deep breath he felt a feeling of nostalgia course through him. Even though he never watched the show, he always felt comfortable in Shinjuku, despite the fact that it could get pretty hectic from time to time. Maybe it was because he and his fellow characers Chris, Jane, and Will were designed more or less to be a part of this corner of the Digimon universe…

Ryan suddenly stiffened as he caught sight of something in the air.

"Wha…?"

John turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "What's up?"

Ryan raised a hand, indicating that he needed a moment to confirm what he had just seen before answering. Narrowing his eyes Ryan concentrated on the space in front of him. At first the air seemed to become _fuzzy_ for a moment, and then lines began to appear. A second later Ryan was able to make out some vague shapes that looked like…

"Words," said Ryan breathily as the vision suddenly vanished. "I just saw words in the air…"

"Oh, that," said John simply, as though it came as no surprise to him. "Yeah. You have the aura of a script about you. You've had it ever since we had our run in with Rika. I'm surprised that you can see it though. Most characters that have one don't. I wonder if it has anything to do with you having died back during the Fable War."

"Well, before this mess started up I learned that I could see plot holes in a fic," said Ryan. John cocked an eyebrow at that. "Kaio attributed it to the same thing that you just mentioned. She called it _ghost sight_."

"Huh. Can you tell me anything about it? It might help give us an idea as to what's going on."

Ryan narrowed his eyes and concentrated, but try as he might he couldn't call up the image that he had just seen.

"Sorry. I can't seem to see them anymore."

John shrugged. "Too bad. I wouldn't worry too much about it though. If my guess is right, this version of the script will just follow the same format as the TV show."

"How can you be so sure though," said Ryan. "I mean we already prevented Takato and Rika meeting. Correction: _I _prevented that, and then you showed up. I'm pretty sure that we diverged from the actual storyline by now."

"Maybe so," said John with a sigh as he pulled back from the phone box. "But stories and shows have a way of fixing themselves to get back on track and avoid a paradox. Well, most of them do anyway, if the writer's good enough for that, and this place has a solid enough feel to it that it can avoid a paradox."

"I see," said Ryan, though he didn't feel relieved upon hearing this. "So any idea as to how long we're going to be here?"

"I figure about two days, translated into real time," said John simply.

Ryan blinked.

"Could you repeat that?"

"Two days. We're only going to be here for a maximum of two days. One if we're lucky."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

"Simple. Fifty-one episodes at thirty minute lengths, and that's _including_ commercial breaks. And that's even factoring in the movies too."

"I thought that this was set up like a fic though."

Now it was John's turn to blink.

"Hmmm… good point. Well, I'm still going to hold out hope that it's going to be only two days. I was planning on attending the Chibi Week festival with Renamon…"

Ryan groaned. "_Chibi Week_? You actually go to that?"

John grinned. "Why not? What have you got against Chibi Week? It's not half bad. Renamon tolerates it."

"Sorry. It's just way too much cuteness for me. I don't mind cute, but man! Some of those Chibi's _really_ go overboard with their appearance."

John nodded and grinned. "Well, I'd have to agree with you on that. You should try and attend it though. You never know, you might have some fun. And maybe you should take Rika…"

Ryan's glare was more than enough for John to change the subject.

"Sorry," John coughed. "Um… a thought just occurred to me. Since the surrounding environs seem to be set up in a story format, do you think your digivice could pick up its stats?"

"Let's see," said Ryan as he pulled out his digivice and activated the analyzer program. "It looks like this is based off of episode three, _"To Fight, or Not to Fight"_. Guess that explains our unfortunate run-in with Rika and her attitude regression."

"Anything else?"

"Just some minor notes on the genre. Looks like action/adventure followed by some romance, but that's nothing to be surprised about. Seems like there's some mention of Rukato in here… wait. Hang on. Looks like the summary is going through some modifications. Great. Well, it's not like this isn't going to be something you haven't seen before…"

John nodded. "I just hope that we don't have to get involved with the Tamer's battles. I'd hate to have to fight Beelzemon."

"Isn't Beelzemon the Demon Lord of Greed?"

"No, that's Barbamon. Beelzemon's crest is Gluttony. I'm surprised that you don't know that, but then you don't even watch the TV show."

Ryan shrugged his shoulders. "I've just never been interested in it before."

"Why is that? I've never heard of a character, even an OC, who never watched the show."

Ryan now looked a little bit nervous. "That's just… how I am. Under the OC classification codes I count as an _Enigma_ among characters. Basically that means I'm an OC whose personality and/or characteristics are against that of the author's wishes. Kind of like how Chris is a Ryuki fan even though his creator is a Rukato supporter."

"Oh yeah. I've heard of characters like you. Pretty rare, and sometimes unstable. The FanFic Domain does studies on OC's like you and they still don't have an idea why you come out the way you do. And sometimes Enigmas have some really weird quirks too." Suddenly John laughed heartily. "Dig this; I once knew a Digimon Enigma who was afraid of big things."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "That's weird. How'd he cope with his partner digivolving?"

John chuckled. "Not very well. In the end his creator had to replace his partner with a MarineAngemon, but by then he was already facing off against a Machinedramon. It got pretty bad after that."

"Oookay… Um, not that this conversation isn't _interesting_, but shouldn't we be trying to find a way out of here? Seeing as how you're an author that should be pretty easy for you, right?"

John shook his head. "Sorry. For some reason I'm cut off from my author account, so what I can do here is rather limited. And I'd rather not have to use my abilities often."

"Why's that?"

John turned his face away. If what he thought was true, then it was information that Ryan could do without until it became a serious problem. For now though, he could handle it.

"Call it _author's instinct_," said John, feeling like a heel for lying to his friend and companion. "For now though, we should focus on finding an alternate route out of here. At any rate, I should try to find a way to restore Renamon's memories…"

"Why only her though?" Asked Ryan.

"Simple. She and I share a link. If I can just reach her I might be able to revive her original memories, and that might cause Rika's memories to come back through the link that they share. It's worth a shot."

"I guess," said Ryan. "But what about our Digivices? Is there any way that they can be used to bring back memories?"

John snorted as he turned around and started heading towards the park. "I think you've been reading way to many clichéd stories Ryan."

"It's just a thought…"

"I know. At any rate, if my current plan doesn't pan out I've got another idea. A little bit dangerous mind you, but it should work."

"Care to share this plan '_B_' with me?"

"Not in its entirety. I still need to think about it for a bit, but I _will_ tell you that it involves making contact with the Sovereigns. Or rather, a _special _Sovereign."

"Does this have anything to do with the rumor that I've been hearing lately about there being a supposed _Fifth Sovereign_? Are you saying that it's true?"

"According to the card game and various websites, the real leader of the Four Digimon Sovereigns happens to be a high class Mega by the name of Fanglongmon. He's supposed to protect the center of the digital world."

"What do you propose to do? Go mount a search for him? Outside of the card game, I don't think anyone's even _seen_ him."

"He's a busy guy," said John, smiling. "What do you expect from a digital god? Now come on. We need to find a place to spend the night in. I'm thinking a hotel…"

Ryan raised a hand. "I'd like to point out that I don't think that our Account Cards are going to work while we're here."

John's smile widened. "What's the matter? Never heard of _credit card defrauding_?"

Ryan seemed a little bit shell shocked at this, but then he gave a small grin.

"John… I never knew. So much for setting an example for your readers."

"Like they're going to know what I'm about to do anyway. Let's go!"

Next to them Richoemon barked a laugh. "What's in your wallet?"

Ryan frowned at his partner. "Been watching too much TV again, huh?"

'Well…"

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Takato plopped down in a chair as he turned on the TV just in time to catch an episode of Digimon. It was a repeat of course, this time from season one, but he didn't care. He lived, breathed, and ate digimon. Not literally of course, though not to long ago he wouldn't have taken the idea of a digimon, let alone one that he created, existing in the real world literally. Not only that, but he had just discovered that there were more kids out there who had digimon just like he did. Those two kids from earlier with an Apemon and a digimon that he had never seen before, and that Henry kid with a Terriermon… It just all seemed so unreal, and yet the evidence had been right there in front of him. It was certainly amazing, and yet there was a sense of unreality there as well, just like that dream he had had two days ago about that girl with the Renamon. Who was she? Was she even real, like digimon?

Takato's questions came to a halt as the TV screen suddenly began to go haywire with the picture, just at the scene where Birdramon was about to fight Meramon.

"Aw, man…" Takato groaned as he got up to try and fix the problem, but then the show returned to normal. Actually _normal_ wasn't accurate, because suddenly Birdramon was different. Her feathers were darker. She looked a lot like the Sabredramon card that Takato had seen, and had heard about from the first Digimon World game. And the Yokomon village… Takato gasped as he saw it. _It was a charred ruin!_

_Wha… that's never happened before,_ thought Takato deliriously. _That **wasn't** what happened at all! What's going on here?_

Before Takato's mind could come up with an answer, the screen dissolved briefly into static before returning to the original scene that Takato had been watching earlier. Birdramon was now sending a flurry of fireballs at Meramon, where they impacted with his chest and drove out the Black Gear that had been imbedded in his body.

_That was weird,_ thought Takato. _I wonder what was up?_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Rika had her cards spread across the table, a furious look painted on her face.

"That kid's digimon digivolves, and Renamon stays the same even with _two_ modify cards! And that other kid…" Rika growled under her breath as she thought of how the boy with the Apemon was able to use energy attacks. Did that mean that kid was a digimon as well? Or something else?

_What do those Goggleheads have that I don't?_ Rika mused bitterly.

Not looking over her shoulder, Rika spoke to her partner, who stood in the doorway of her room.

"You better digivolve soon Renamon…"

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Henry walked home with his partner Terriermon, thinking over the discussion that he had with the kid named Takato and his _unique_ digimon. Takato had mentioned something about two kids with digimon of their own, and one was able to digivolve his partner straight into the champion level. Henry was curious as to how he was able to pull that off. His own experience with his partner digivolving, even though it had only been on a game, had not been a very pleasant one.

_Well, it's two more Tamers that I have to look out for,_ he thought as he turned the corner and began to approach his apartment building.

A/N: Fanglongmon is a real digimon, and the information that I gave about him is real, that is if you trust Wikipedia's sources, and it provides an image of him as well complete with most of his stats. He's pretty cool.

7


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon… I don't own Digimon… (Continues singing the disclaimer like a nursery rhyme for the next few minutes)

The Four Seasons: Chapter 27

Third Arc: 03

**Not as Seen on TV**: Part 2

Ryan flopped down on the bed of the hotel room and yawned as he settled himself down from the rough day that he had experienced.

_Man, this was one day that I could have done without,_ he thought as he went over the day's events in his mind. Starting in chronological order, he had been dragged into helping Chris bring Ashley's luggage onto the cruise ship that was _supposed_ to take them to a relaxing vacation, and progressing from there to his search for Jane and Reno when they didn't turn up, to Rika confessing to having feelings for him (Ryan shuddered at the thought, and felt some heat rise in his face from embarrassment), to getting sucked into an electrical storm and getting deposited in Shinjuku, or rather a copy of the one that he was used to visiting, and then getting into a fight with the same Rika that he had talked to before the wild and weird roller coaster ride that classifies as Internet travel. Closing his eyes Ryan drifted in his mind, attempting to relax his body and prepare himself for any possible stresses for the next day.

Fate however, wouldn't leave him alone. Blurry images formed in his minds eye, taking on the resemblance of words. Ryan began to feel a little uncomfortable as it felt like they were forcing their way into his brain. The words ran through his mind faster and faster, to quick for him to keep up with them to read them, and he soon sat up with a gasp, as though he had just woken up from a nightmare. Blinking Ryan looked around and saw John standing by the window, watching the sun set over the horizon. Ryan got up from off the bed and walked over to the Avatar. Ryan was silent for a moment, but he soon broke it.

"John, this _script_ thing that you saw around me? Is it dangerous?"

John looked at Ryan, a little confused.

"You're a character. You've worked with scripts before, so why are you asking me this?"

"Because… this feels different. It's one thing where you accept a script and it becomes a part of your essence, but when you don't expect one? I don't know, it feels like it was forced on me or something. I don't like it. Do you have a script aura?"

John sighed. "Avatars are different from characters Ryan. We tend to be beyond scripts, but at the same time we generate them…"

"I get that part," said Ryan, frowning. "But you also count as a character in addition to being an Avatar."

"All that means is that I can exist in a script as well as generate it. That doesn't mean that I can be controlled by it. Besides, as a character you choose the script you want don't you? That's how it is for all characters, Canon or OC."

"That's FanFic Domain rules though," said Ryan. "I doubt that anyone who's here came here willingly, or accepted their parts willingly."

_"Gotta agree with Ryan on this one,"_ said a voice from out of thin air that sounded eerily like Davis Motomiya. Both boys looked around bewilderedly.

"Is that you Tapirmon?" Asked John.

Over in on one of the beds, the mythical dream digimon looked up from the remote control that he was playing with.

"If you mean the voice that makes a good _Davis impression_ then no. That wasn't me. If you're referring to the strange, gaseous odor however, then yes, that was me."

"I _so_ did not need to know that…"

"Sorry."

Ryan shook his head. "Well, it couldn't have been Richoemon, he couldn't do an impression of a Digidestined to save his life…"

"Hey!" Cried a small, orange dinosaur with a Zebra striped mane sitting next to Tapirmon.

"C'mon dude. Admit it. They are pretty bad."

"Can't argue with you there, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't broadcast it for all the world to hear…"

_"Ahem!" _Coughed the strange voice that Ryan and John had heard earlier. The two characters got in battle positions as they looked around the room for any sign of an intruder.

_"First off, I'd like to say that I'm not an impression. And second, I'm not Davis either. Well, actually I am. I'm the Japanese equivalent though. You can call me Daisuke."_

Ryan blinked. "I don't believe it. We're standing in a hotel room talking to a disembodied voice that sounds just like the second season of Digimon's Gogglehead. I take it that there's a reason for this weirdness?"

"It actually makes a little bit of sense," said John.

_"I'm glad someone thinks so,"_ said a voice that sounded like Davis's partner, Veemon. John looked a little bit startled as he heard this.

"Veemon? You're here too?"

_"Actually, the name's V-mon. Emphasis on the V followed by the dash, and then mon. That's my Japanese name, so get it right!"_

"I wasn't aware that there was a specific pronunciation," muttered Ryan, but John simply waved it off and continued with his point.

"I wonder… Daisuke, or rather Davis, was the narrator for a majority of the Digimon Tamers episodes, so it's quite possible that Daisuke wound up getting sucked into that role. Talk about an inflated sense of irony, though I am a little bit surprised that his digimon partner wound up getting stuck in the same situation."

"How can we be sure that they're the real deal?" Asked Ryan.

_"What're you talkin' about?" _Said the Daisuke voice hotly._ "Of course I'm the real deal! Do you think anyone else who looks as good as I do would claim to be me?"_

John looked at Ryan. "It's him, all right. He just dissed himself in an attempt at complimenting himself, never mind the fact that we can't even see him. Aside from maybe Tai, I don't think that there are too many people who could express himself the same way."

"And so elegantly," remarked Ryan.

_"Hey!"_

"Okay," said John. "So you guys stuck in the role of the narrator. Seems like you have a fair degree of mobility though. Have you two tried talking to the Tamers?"

_"Not really," said Daisuke. "I mean, I have but they can't hear me for some reason. What I meant by 'not really' was that I didn't have much in the way of mobility until you guys came along. But like I said, the Tamers can't hear me for some reason while only you guys can."_

John rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Hmmm… it might have something to do with the fact that Original Characters have become a part of the original storyline that has allowed you to make contact with us. Maybe you'll be able to talk to the other Tamers now…"

_"Except for one single detail,"_ said the Daisuke _ghost_. _"Me and V-mon still can't go anywhere except it seems with you guys."_

"That's easily solved though," said John. "I plan to go looking for Renamon tonight, so you two can come with me."

_"Okay, but are you sure that's a good idea? She did try to attack you earlier…"_

"Yeah, but I have a feeling that this time she may be willing to talk. I understand how she thinks. She's going to want to know how I was able to communicate with her via our mental rapport. Renamon's not going to just up and attack me the way Rika would, except maybe if Rika ordered her too."

"You want me to come along?" asked Tapirmon as he floated on over to his partner. John shook his head.

"I'd rather keep the odds of a fight starting as low as possible, and Renamon isn't likely to fight a human."

"I'd like to point out that you, as an Avatar, are very much like a digimon in terms of attack capability," said Tapirmon.

"Maybe so," said John. "But this is something that I'd like to handle on my own."

_"But we'll be there,"_ said Daisuke.

"Yeah, but that's just so that we can see if you can talk to the Canon Characters. If Renamon sees Tapirmon, she might attack him. Or Rika would order her too…"

_"Okay, I get it."_

"Good. I'd hate to have to explain this three more times."

Ryan could almost swear that Daisuke and V-mon were sweat dropping at this moment.

"Um…" began Ryan. "I'm curious. If you do find Renamon and she _is_ willing to talk, how're you going to answer some of the questions that she's bound to have? It strikes me as pretty obvious that you can't just up and tell her that you're an author for a fan fiction web site. She'd laugh in your face."

John smiled as he opened up the window to the hotel. "Well, her laughing might not be a bad thing. As for answering any of her questions, that's a bridge that I'll burn when I get there. Ready Daisuke? V-mon?"

_"Always."_ Said the duo together.

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Renamon felt the night's air play with her fur as she raced through the city. It was cool and refreshing, but it offered no relief for her troubled mind as she followed Rika in her journey through the city. The girl had been quite troubled and upset over her encounter with those two strange children earlier, especially over the one who had digivolved his digimon, an unidentifiable digimon at that, to the Champion level. Renamon could understand this frustration after a fashion. She had trained hard with her Tamer over the time that they had been together, fought and defeated many digimon, some of whom had been at a higher level, and downloaded the data of each and every one of them. But despite all their hard work Renamon still hadn't been able to digivolve. She couldn't help but wonder if she was failing her Tamer.

Renamon frowned as she thought over that encounter. It was strange how both children and their digimon seemed to know them, and even stranger she felt that the one boy who had arrived with the Apemon was able to do the things that he did. The ability to project energy was certainly disconcerting, but it was the other thing that he did that had truly surprised her.

_How was that boy able to communicate with me the way I do with Rika? He claimed that I had made the link myself, but I don't remember doing so with him at all. So how can that be?_

_And… why do I feel a sense of closeness to him the way I do with Rika?_

Renamon had only discovered this feeling shortly after her encounter with the strange boy, but she couldn't abandon Rika and go searching for him. Especially since she didn't know if she could trust him or not. Renamon sighed, feeling a little frustrated now, and for the first time she felt as though she didn't know what to do. If Rika met the boy again she would no doubt force him into a battle, and Renamon was surprised to find that she didn't want that to happen. She wanted to… know who he was, and how he knew her.

Renamon paused at the edge of a roof, and raised a paw, looking at it curiously as though she had never seen it before.

_Being the best… is that so important to me that I must battle everyone and everything around me? Is it so important to Rika? Must we set ourselves against the world?_

Renamon shook her head, trying to clear her mind of such thoughts, and soon her body once more became one with the shadows as she phased out of existence. A second later she appeared on a ledge, watching her Tamer as she strode through the crowd.

"Fancy meeting you here," said a voice behind the kitsune digimon. Spinning around, Renamon readied herself for combat, but she saw only the boy that she had met earlier in the day, the one that had been on her mind of late.

_How did he get behind me without my noticing?_ Wondered Renamon as she looked at the boy who was framed perfectly against the moonlight, giving him an almost mystical glow about him. He smiled gently at the vulpine, but he had some traces of nervousness in his eyes. And something else as well, as though he were having an inner talk with a voice only he could hear. Renamon relaxed her pose, but did not drop her combat readiness. Experience had shown her that the child could be quite dangerous when he wanted to.

Renamon did a quick sweep of the surrounding area.

_Where's his partner?_ She wondered, not liking this one bit.

The boy's sigh caught her attention.

"Sorry about earlier," he said. "But it didn't look like you were going to stop fighting anytime soon, so… well, I had to do something to stop you from killing my friend's partner."

Renamon didn't say a word. She continued to eye the boy carefully.

"I was hoping," the boy swallowed nervously. "… I was hoping that we could start over, despite what happened between us. I realize that we didn't start off on the right foot, but I would like to fix that. My names John, and I'm a Tamer."

Renamon narrowed her eyes at the boy, but simply nodded cautiously. She saw the digivice that the boy had attached to his waist, so there was definitely truth in what he said. Only she felt that he was holding back on her.

"I see. Tell me, _John_, are all Tamers capable of doing what you did to me earlier? Or was that a fluke?"

John winced as he remembered the attack that he had thrown at her earlier, but he held his ground. He was certain that what he had done then was right, no matter how much it hurt to think so. John looked sadly at the digimon that he loved.

_I can't lie to her, but I can't tell her the truth either. Not yet anyway. Not until I can get her to trust me._

"Uh… well, it was… um… something of a fluke. I really don't want to get into it right now, if that's alright with you."

Renamon remained cold and impassive towards the boy, but for some reason she felt as though her heart had just skipped a beat.

_Why does it feel as though I can sense his pain? Is it because of that link that he claimed I formed with him? Have I met him before?_

"You said earlier that you knew me, and you were able to speak to me through a mind link. How were you able to do that?"

John met Renamon's stare. "Well, you made it Renamon. It's not the kind of thing that can be broken easily, at least not without intense mental trauma on both participants. I imagine that's why it was able to carry over even if your… ah… memories didn't."

"So you're saying that I know you?"

John gave a small smile. "We've known each other for a while now. I can show you how we first met, that is… if you'll let me."

Renamon hesitated, unsure if she should place her trust in the boy, but she found that her curiosity was much to great for any reservations that she might have. She was just about to give an answer when a voice spoke in her mind, harsh and demanding.

_"Renamon!"_

_Rika…_ thought Renamon sadly as she shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but my Tamer calls." And with that, Renamon phased out of view, leaving John with an immense feeling of sadness in his heart.

John stared at the spot where Renamon had been as his eyes brimmed with tears. Wiping his arm across them, John dried his eyes sufficiently so that he could see well enough to make his way back to the hotel. From what he was sensing through his connection with Renamon, any further chance at talking with the kitsune would have to wait until another time.

_"You okay?" _Asked Daisuke from the corners of the Avatar's mind.

_Yeah, I'm fine. Too bad that it turned out that you guys couldn't talk to Renamon though,_ replied John. During his quest to find Renamon he had discovered that he could talk with the Digidestined child and his partner with thoughts as well as words, which made things a little bit easier on him since it prevented him (and Ryan as well) from sounding like crazy people. Suddenly John felt his legs unhinge from beneath him and he fell onto his hands and knees. Looking over at his right hand as he saw it become slightly blurry before returning back to normal. John felt Daisuke and V-mon's shock.

_"John? What just happened here?"_

John sighed sadly. _Something that I was afraid would happen as soon as I found out where we were. Looks like I'm going to have to tell Ryan after all._

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Half an hour later, John had returned to the hotel and told him what had happened between him and Renamon, which in essence basically amounted to nothing in terms of improvement of their situation, but it was something of a start. John kept the conversation on that topic short so that he could address the other problem that had reared its ugly head. John told it as carefully as possible.

"There's something else that you should know," he said. "I kept it from you in the hopes that what I saw was just some weird coincidence, but after I talked with Renamon I saw that that wasn't the case."

"Oookay," said Ryan, feeling a little bit concerned now. "So what's the deal?"

"There's no easy way to say this," said John. "We're dying."

Ryan blinked.

"Say what?"

John sighed. "Because we've been cut off from our accounts, there exists a high possibility that after a certain point we'll cease to exist. Our accounts work as something like a battery, a life force if you will. As long as they exist, we exist, but here we're cut off. The only reason why we're still here is because the accounts are still active back in the FanFic Domain, but due to the difference in domain zones we're no longer connected to them. We're operating like batteries right now, and unless we find a way home soon we'll run out of juice and… disappear."

Ryan was speechless, too stunned it seemed to say anything in response to this revelation, and so John continued.

"The Canon Characters will be able to survive, no question about that. They aren't dependent on an account existing to keep them going. You might make it because you have the aura of a script stuck on you, but that itself poses a threat to you because it might overwrite your character. You might become a main character, or you'll just fade into the crowd of generic characters without a purpose. The same goes for our partners, except that it'd be worse for Richoemon because he doesn't have a script aura and he's not a canon character. He'll just… _disappear_ while Tapirmon will be returned to the digital world."

The two digimon that were their partners were strangely silent at this news. Not even Richoemon could say something to lighten the mood.

"How long do we have?" Asked Ryan softly. John shrugged.

"It depends on how much we exert ourselves. It's worse for me because I'm able to bend the rules more regularly than you. You're trapped in the confines of the show's rules. You might be able to last the entire season physically, but you'll no doubt lose everything else that makes you, you before the last episode. But I'll definitely go before you do." John swallowed as he felt the harshness of reality sink in as Ryan turned towards the window to look up at the starry night.

Ryan stared at the sky for a moment before he spoke once more. His words were filled with resignation over their fate.

"So this is it, huh?" He asked, not breaking his eyes away from the sky. "We're basically strangers in our own home, with no one who can help us and all we can do is fade away…"

The boy's companion didn't answer him. Not even Daisuke or their digimon partners could think of something to say.

In the night, the silence was deafening.

8


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: Seriously, you people at Bandai and Toei already know that I don't own Digimon, so why do I have to write this disclaimer?

The Four Seasons: Chapter 28

Third Arc: 03

**Not as Seen on TV**: Part 3

Ryo Akiyama slashed a card through his digivice as his partner, Cyberdramon threw down with a strange entity that appeared to be composed of, for lack of a better description, television static. Cyberdramon growled as he felt his strength increase exponentially and he used it to deadly effect as he slashed at his adversary, releasing bursts of energy that tore through the other creature's form as though it were paper. But Ryo knew that those injuries didn't mean a thing to whatever this monstrosity was. Previous attempts at destroying it, starting from their first encounter nearly two days ago had proven futile. All it did was regenerate what was damaged, and even if Cyberdramon hit it with enough firepower to completely overwhelm its defenses and obliterate it from existence, the strange being would return within the time space of a few hours and pick back up where they had left off. It seemed unrelenting, unstoppable, and Ryo had no idea on how to destroy it and make its deletion stick! Whatever this entity was, it was beyond anything that he and Cyberdramon had ever seen before, and at every encounter it only seemed to get stronger. Ryo wasn't even sure that it was a digimon. Digimon didn't act like this. They didn't regenerate unless they downloaded data from another digimon, and they certainly didn't come back from the dead, unless that is you counted his old enemy Milleniummon or the Primary Village that he had visited back in his earlier adventures but that sort of option wasn't available in the Southern Quadrant. Here, when a digimon died, they tended to stay dead. Defeat in the realm of the phoenix like digimon known as Zhuqiamon was brutal and very much final. Ironic yes, but a fact of that defined the nature of the Southern Quadrant of the digital world.

So why wasn't death working with this one?

Cyberdramon growled in pain as his enemy grabbed hold of him and slammed him to the ground. Bringing all of its weight to bear on the Ultimate level cyborg, the static entity pinned him to the ground and formed an image of Machinedramon's Giga Cannons on its shoulders, powering them up and aiming them at Ryo's partner. In desperation the Legendary Tamer dug through his deck box, searching for a card that could help him get out of this mess. No sooner then he pulled out the card though, the creature paused in its attack, looking up at the sky as though listening to a voice only it could here. A few moments later, it vanished.

_Oookay… what the heck is going on here?_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

John awoke, hearing some noise from the bathroom of the hotel room, and cracked open his eyes only to close them again against the glare of the sun through the hotel window. John groaned and rolled to the side, hearing the toilet to the bathroom flush. A second later the bathroom door opened and Ryan stepped out of it, looking a little groggy. Or maybe it was depression, John couldn't tell for sure. Ryan seemed to have accepted the fact that they were dying rather easily, though it was clear that he wasn't too happy about it. This may have had something to do with the fact that the brown haired OC had already been on the side of the grave once already, so he was prepared for death more mentally than John was. Of course, that didn't mean that he had to like it.

With a yawn John sat up and looked at Ryan as he slid on his green outer shirt over his red, not bothering to button it up, and then sat down on his bed and began to tug on his shoes. John raised an eyebrow.

"You going somewhere?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah. Out. I need to get some thinking done, and I usually think best when I'm out walking."

"I see. Are you going to take Richoemon with you?"

Ryan turned to look at his saurian partner before looking at John.

"Normally I would, but with the Digimon Queen on the prowl and the rest of the world at large ignorant of the reality of digimon I don't think that I want to chance it."

"I don't know… what'll you do if you run into trouble, like a Wild One?"

Ryan snorted. "I checked my digivice when I woke up. We're still in episode three. From what you've told me about this episode the only person that I really have to worry today about is Rika."

"But this isn't the show," said John carefully. "And whoever set this up is bound to have noticed that we're here, so he or she may end up coming after us. You're going to need some help."

_"We can go with him,"_ spoke Daisuke from out of nowhere. John chuckled.

"No offense, but you and V-mon are disembodied voices. I don't think that you're going to be able to do much else except scream silently at any oncoming enemies. If you tried to stop Rika as she is now, you'll have the same affect as her conscience."

_"She's listened to that before…"_ began V-mon, but John cut him off.

"But not this early in the season. Ryan, I think you should take Richoemon with you."

Ryan sighed. "All right. Fine. If it'll set your mind at ease I'll do that. But how am I going to keep him hidden? I mean it's not like anyone's going to believe that Richoemon's a guy in a suit…"

John smiled, and suddenly Ryan felt just a little bit nervous. Something clicked in Ryan's mind.

"No. There is _no way_ that you're going to get me to try that excuse."

John just kept on smiling.

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Takato headed on out of the park with Guilmon by his side, a smile on their faces.

"Now remember," the goggle wearing boy said to his partner. "You're a _guy_ in a _suit_."

The pair strode forth confidently, as though they had every reason to belong in the madness that was the real world, even though the strangeness of the red dino's appearance was drawing quite a number of stares and comments. As they walked, a small child holding onto the hand of what looked like his mother crossed their path, and his eyes widened in amazement.

"Hey! Look! Check it out, it's another digimon!"

Takato tensed up slightly. It was time to put his idea to the test. In the brief second of the child's exclamation, and his own response that Guilmon was really a costume that he made, something came to his attention.

_Hang on. Did he just say '**another digimon'**?_ _Oh boy…_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_I can't believe he talked me into this…_ thought Ryan, aware of the numerous stares that both he and his partner were getting as they walked through the streets.

"_Well,"_ said V-mon from inside his head. _"You gotta admit that it worked, right?_

"_Yeah," _said Daisuke. _"That kid like, totally bought your story!"_

"Like it matters," said Ryan, though it looked like he was talking to no one in particular, earning him a few more strange stairs from the people around him. "A kid that age will believe just about anything at face value and the kid's mother looked too busy to even bother to see if our story is true."

"Uh… Ryan?" Said Richoemon. "You do realize that you look like you're talking to yourself right?"

"You can blame Daisuke and Veemon's invisibility for that," grumbled Ryan as he frowned.

"_Hey! It's **'V-MON!'** How many times do I have to say it?!"_

"_I don't know. Twenty?"_

"_Daisuke, you're not helping!"_

Richoemon sighed. "You know you can just talk to them with your thoughts."

Ryan scowled. "No, I didn't know that. How come no one told me I could do that earlier?"

"_Maybe if you weren't so fixated on getting my name wrong…"_ said V-mon.

_Oh, you're a noisy one,_ thought Ryan irritably.

"What did you say in response, Ryan?" Asked Richoemon. Ryan just groaned.

"Forget it. It's not important…"

"_He called V-mon noisy."_

"So much for the privacy of my own thoughts. And here I wanted to get away from this sort of thing. I mean, John and Tapirmon didn't want to tag along because of this _plan_ that they were cooking up, so why did I have to get stuck with two voices in my head?"

At this, Ryan got a few more stares, and people began to go out of their way to avoid getting too close to him. Ryan just sighed and his thoughts drifted back to the conversation that he had with John back at the hotel.

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"_Fine, fine," said Ryan in defeat as he finally agreed to John's advice. "So what are you going to do while I'm gone?"_

"_I've been toying with an idea on how to get us home faster. It's a little bit dangerous because it uses up a lot of energy."_

"_Maybe you shouldn't do it then and," said Ryan. "If it's risky enough for you to be worried about it because of our current predicament then maybe you shouldn't even bother. I'm sure that we can take the long route home…"_

_John shook his head. "I'd rather not have to wait. Too much is going on, and I don't feel like getting sidetracked with this storyline right now. We've got to get to the digital world so that we can find Fanglongmon, but we can't do that at this point. The rules of this season don't allow it for some reason."_

_Ryan sighed. "All right. Fine. But don't get yourself killed, got it? Otherwise I'd have to find your spirit and kill you again just for messing up."_

"_I'll keep it in mind," chuckled John. "Anyway, aren't you going to be going out now?"_

"_I suppose so…" said Ryan uncertainly. "Yeah. I might as well. How will I know when you've got this plan of yours ready to kick off?"_

"_Don't worry about that," said John. "It'll be pretty obvious once it happens. Now before you go, I've got something that I should do for you, just in case you run into trouble."_

_Ryan cocked an eyebrow. "You know that I won't, remember? Even Richoemon says that I shouldn't have anything to worry about, and he's **watched **the show. That's a pretty good reason for me to feel confident already."_

_John stared at Ryan blankly for a second._

"_You're saying that you're partner watches the show more than you do?"_

"_Um… isn't there something that you wanted to do?"_

"_Oh, right. Here. Bring out your digivice."_

"_Okay…" Ryan unclipped it from his belt and held it out to John. He placed his hands above it and concentrated for a few seconds. A sphere of light materialized out of thin air and then sunk into Ryan's digivice, leaving him stunned._

"_Wha… what did you do?"_

"_Added a little modification that should help you in case you get stuck in a situation where you're partner's Champion and Ultimate forms won't be any good. Trust me; it'll be useful for you in a city like this."_

_Ryan just stared at John suspiciously before clipping his digivice back to his belt, wondering just what it was that John was getting at._

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Ryan shook his head. _Man, I hate flashbacks. The flash of white; the weird dreamlike memories, the italics… It's enough to make my head feel foggy._

Richoemon stopped suddenly and sniffed the air. Ryan looked at his partner worriedly.

"You okay, buddy?"

Richoemon looked over his shoulder.

"Guilmon and his Tamer are somewhere behind us," said the little orange dino.

"So much for a low profile," said Ryan. "This was exactly what I wanted to avoid. Oh well, I made the bed and now I have to lie on it. C'mon Richoemon. Let's find a place to lose them in!"

"May I point out that Guilmon is an expert tracker?"

"Dude, don't crush my hope already, okay?" With that, the pair took off.

_This is so stupid,_ thought Ryan as they ran through the streets. _Why doesn't John want us interacting with the Tamers? It's not like we're going to be affecting them or anything!_

"_Maybe it has more to do with their developing personalities,"_ spoke up Daisuke._ "If we're in their lives on a regular basis without finding a way to bring out their original memories, they might become wholly different people that we won't recognize."_

_Wow. Congrats Daisuke. That actually made sense! And it came from **you** of all people. I'm impressed. What do you do for an encore? Use big words?_

"_Very funny! You should get a job as a comedia… Hey! Wait! Don't go in there, dude!"_

Ryan was just about to ask why when suddenly he saw a flash of words replace his vision for a second, and the next thing he knew he was standing in a parking garage with one angry looking Rika Nonaka standing in front of him.

"What the…? Richoemon? Tell me that's not who I think it is…"

"Er… maybe it's her double Ruki come to give us a hand?"

"_Since when have we ever been that lucky?"_

"Shut up, Daisuke!" Shouted Ryan, and then a second later realized that he had just spoken out loud.

"_Heh, heh. Got ya dude."_

_Ug… somebody kill me now…_

Rika looked around before returning her gaze to Ryan and his partner.

"Don't tell me; you _gave_ a name to that wimpy pet of yours?"

"HEY!" Cried the little dinosaur vehemently. "WHO YOU CALLING A WIMP?!"

"Whatever," said Rika waving off Richoemon's outcry. "I had originally been planning to go after other prey today, but seeing as how you're here now, you'll have to do, especially after what happened yesterday. I don't know how you got your digimon to digivolve but…"

"Give us a break, Rika," growled Ryan. "And remind me again why you're fighting us? I'm sure that there's more useful things that we could be doing in our spare time…"

"Like what?" Shot back the fiery Tamer. "Is this your way of trying to ask me out on a date? Sorry. I don't _baby sit_ annoying losers like you!"

_Walked right into that one didn't I?_ Thought Ryan as he looked over at Richoemon.

"You just _had_ to say that to her yesterday, _didn't_ you?"

"This would be where Terriermon says _Momentai_…"

"Never mind," said Ryan as he turned towards the exit. "Let's just get out of here before…"

Ryan's eyes widened as Renamon materialized at the exit, calmly awaiting Rika's order to attack.

"… Terrific. Looks like we have no choice but to fight after all," said Ryan as he pulled out his digivice. Rika scoffed.

"Give me a break. You're trapped with no way out. You can't even risk digivolving in this place, so what're you going to do?"

Ryan looked at his digivice thoughtfully as he remembered what John did for him before leaving the hotel earlier. And something else as well that the Avatar had told him yesterday.

"_Stories and shows have a way of fixing themselves to get back on track and avoid a paradox." John… did you know that this was going to happen?_

Ryan shook his head, and once again words from that annoying script aura that he had flashed in his brain.

_What the heck… Never mind that! We've got something to take care of right now!_

Ryan raised his digivice, and looked at the girl's hard, violet eyes. She was clearly waiting for an answer.

"The same thing that every would-be hero does when the odds are against them," said Ryan. "Improvise."

Words then involuntarily formed on his lips and his digivice burst with bright light as a white colored sphere shot out from the screen and connected with Richoemon.

"DIGI-ARMOR ENERGIZE!"

"RICHOEMON, ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOOO… TALONMON!"

The light died down, revealing a thin-limbed digimon with silver armor covering its entire body. Spikes protruded from its back, and elbows, and its claws were blade-like and razor sharp. The new digimon's head was flat and broad, curving up in a half moon shape before ending with two blade like spikes at the top, and behind it a long whip like tail swung back and forth slowly, a curved blade at its tip. Ryan raised his digivice to get a read on its stats.

**Talonmon**

**Stage: Armor/ Light**

**Type: Vaccine**

**Special Attacks: Razor Edge, Tail Blade, Spear Throw**

_Jeez,_ thought Ryan._ When John makes an Armor digimon he doesn't kid around…_

Rika just _hmmphed_ as she drew a card from her belt, and Renamon got into a battle position. Ryan decided to make at least one last attempt to talk his way out of this, but before he could do he heard a shout coming down the ramp of the parking garage.

"GUILMON, STOP!"

"Grrr…"

"I need to stop cutting out of gym class…"

_Wha…? oh no…_

A door slammed open on the other side of the parking garage, revealing a boy wearing an orange vest with a long eared digimon sitting on the top of his head.

"WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE?"

Shortly after Henry Wong and Terriermon made their appearance a flash of light burst in between where the Tamers stood, and everyone shielded their eyes from its intensity. Once it died down Ryan took a look at the cause, and his eyes widened in surprise once more as he caught sight of what looked like a digimon composed completely out of TV static. It looked around almost uncertainly before finally settling on him and Talonmon.

In that moment, before events could proceed any further, Ryan had time for one last sarcastic thought.

_Why does it seem like the fun wagon is always five minutes behind me?_

Shortly thereafter the creature attacked with a burst from two shoulder mounted cannons, and then all hell broke loose.

7


	30. Chapter 30

Disclaimer: Let's be honest. Who'd even _believe_ me if I said that I own Digimon?

The Four Seasons: Chapter 29

Third Arc: 03

**Not as Seen on TV**: Part 4

John sat on the bed of the hotel room that he shared with Tapirmon, Ryan, and Richoemon, his eyes closed and his brow furrowed in concentration. He felt his mind drift outwards into the streams of data that floated all around him, tapping them lightly mentally, seeing what they were made of and analyzing them carefully before deciding whether to proceed anywhere further with them or to move on to something else. He had long since abandoned the idea of being able to get himself and the others (not just Ryan, Tapirmon, and Richoemon, but the Tamers as well) out of the domain zone himself. It was not just a question of the amount of power required to pull off such an act (of which he didn't quite have the strength required to pull something like that off and expect it to work), but there was something about this site that bound the characters held within to it. It would require a hacker of amazing skill to get them out of here and back to the FanFic Domain where they belonged. John had no idea whether or not they're disappearance had been noticed, but knowing the Domain authorities and the Authors chances were that they already knew. Unless the hacker had found a way to shut down the site and lock everyone out of their accounts when he pulled off this heist. If such was the case, John couldn't depend on the FanFic Domain to get them out of this mess, which was why he was undergoing this plan that he had come up with. It was a little bit dangerous because of the massive amounts of energy that he would end up using for it, but if it got them out of there faster so much the better. It had to work. John was pinning all of his hopes on this idea of his coming off, so that they could find Fanglongmon. John was gambling on the possibility that, due to the fact that the Fifth Sovereign had yet to be seen in the media, that he would be the least affected by whatever it was that had caused the Canon Characters to revert back to their original format, as the digital god's personality had yet to be fully defined either in Manga or the TV show. But John had no intention of sitting around and waiting for his opportunity to show up. He _needed_ to get this done and over with as soon as possible, before he lost the ability to do so.

And that meant that he needed to speed things up.

John narrowed his focus, staring deep into digital space. Assuming that this version of the Digimon show was running on, or at least close to, the same format as the original, then he knew just what time frame to aim for. He had it all picked out too, but he had to find the right data pockets to align things up perfectly and _fast-forward_, so to speak, to the point that he wanted. The domain zone became digital information in his mind's eye, zeros and ones flew by him, some of them taking shape into the familiar figures of the characters that he had come to know during his time on the FanFic Domain. He saw Ryan and Richoemon running down the streets of Shinjuku, Ryan surrounded by another set of zeros and ones that continuously ate away at his original code and replacing it with its own, while Richoemon's data faded in luminosity at a rate so slow it was almost indiscernible. Behind them a ways off were Takato and Guilmon, their own code similar to what he remembered, but at the same time different because they had been incorporated into a different environment that manipulated them.

_Hang in there, guys,_ thought John as he looked beyond them now, turning his attention deeper into the layers of the web site. John was surprised to find that there were more layers than he had expected, each of them set up in a similar format to the one that he was in with familiar data patterns moving within them, and then scolded himself for being surprised at all.

_Duh! Of course, stupid! Did you think that you and the Tamers were the only ones to be taken? This is… interesting. Looks like what I'm going to do is going to affect them too. This may take a lot more out of me then I expected, but I'm still going to try it anyway. If I'm lucky, this site might collapse under the energy strain coursing through it. Of course, then we'll all be free floating in the middle of the Internet, and that won't be good. Especially considering all those viruses that are out there._

Looking past the four layers of the domain zone he focused on the core of the site, and he had to admit that he was impressed with it. The core, while simple in design (resembling a blue energy sphere) was surrounded by numerous lines of data code, which were no doubt composed of various anti-virus software and firewalls. John felt a little bit nervous. He may not be a virus program, but he was an intruder. It was actually amazing that it hadn't tried to remove him yet.

_Maybe the controllers hadn't worked out all the bugs yet,_ thought John as he cautiously reached outward and mentally touched the core. He breathed a sigh of relief as none of the site's defenses didn't kick in to delete him. _Wonder if I could use the core's energy to help me and the others. Let's see…_

John mentally spoke a command, and all he got in return was _Invalid Command_. John sighed and tried another approach, only to grunt in surprise as he felt a defensive program kick in and smack him down lightly, cutting off that idea entirely. John now doubted that he'd be able to get the system to work for him. He didn't know enough about this system to be able to circumvent its protocols and get directly to the core itself. He didn't specialize in hacking. He only knew enough to be able to navigate a web system (and besides, hacking knowledge was forbidden under rule 417B under the Articles of the Fan Fiction Free Web Clause). Tossing the idea out the window he returned to his original plan, and reached out with his mind. He now knew enough about the place now that he could accelerate events. Now all he had to do was hope that he could pull it off.

Lines of data began to accelerate as John poured his power into them, and the core began to glow brighter. He looked at the Tamers level and smiled, hoping that Ryan was going to be okay when he got back. Before the acceleration reached peak power output he called out to Renamon one last time. There was something that she had to know, and hopefully it would get her to trust him more when she saw him again.

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"SCATTER!" Shouted Ryan as he and Talonmon leapt to the side, dodging the attack of Shinjuku's newest arrival. Behind them, the kitsune digimon phased out of existence to avoid the attack, only to reappear behind Takato and Guilmon and pull them out of the way as they just stood there in stunned surprise at the way events were proceeding. In Takato's case, this reaction would be understandable if you knew what had been going on in his life for the past couple of days. He had just learned that digimon were real, had stumbled onto two kids and their digimon (both at the Champion level), met Henry and his Terriermon, had just now noticed Rika, the girl that he had dreamt about prior to his own partner's arrival in the real world, and then to top it all off he encountered her with two other Tamers along with a strange digimon appearing out of nowhere and started shooting like crazy at the one kid and metallic digimon that were in front of the Renamon.

He just wasn't ready for this sort of thing, and Guilmon's viral instincts had taken a moment to pause briefly and ogle at all the excitements. So it was fortunate that Renamon had taken the moment to pull them out of the way, something that surprised her but she had no time to be introspective about it, and she soon joined the battle with the newly emerged _Wild One_.

"I'm not getting any data on this guy," said Henry as he looked at the halo circle that had materialized above his digivice. Looking over he saw that the red haired girl and the boy with the green shirt were having the same luck that he was. The girl appeared a little bit perturbed by this, but she just growled angrily and pulled out a card and slashed it through the slot on her digivice.

"DIGI-MODIFY! SPEED ACTIVATE!"

On the other side of the parking garage, the yellow furred fox that Henry assumed to be her partner suddenly accelerated and charged at the intruder, firing shards of glowing crystals at it.

"**Diamond Storm!"**

The attack ricocheted off the creature's static form and it turned towards Renamon, priming its cannons.

**Razor Edge!"**

Twin energy slashes tore into the creature, biting off some data and for a second Henry thought that they actually stood a chance, only to lose that hope a second later as the damage was suddenly repaired without a moment's hesitation. Not losing a beat, the creature turned and fired the blast meant for Renamon at the second digimon.

"TALONMON! LOOK OUT!"

_Well, that solves the mystery of that digimon's identity,_ thought Henry. As he stood there, trying to think of a way to end this fight, a crimson fireball smashed into the static entity.

"**Pyro Sphere!"**

The static entity let loose a loud roar as it began to fire wildly now, tearing up concrete and igniting the fuel in the parked cars around him, sending children and digimon scattering as they tried to find some measure of shelter. Henry looked around, blinking as he tried to see through the smoke and fire. All the commotion that they were causing was bound to draw some attention. They had to end this soon or they'd get caught for sure!

_Hang on,_ thought Henry out of the blue. _Where's Terriermon?_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_Okay,_ thought Takato as he drew a card from out of his pocket. _Let's see what this one does._

He had seen what the girl from his dream had done with the card and her digivice, and heard what she had said as well, so he had come to the conclusion that he could use the cards to help out Guilmon. Being a novice though he had no idea what it was that the cards would do once he used them, so he thought that it was best to start with something that made sense.

"DIGI-MODIFY! POWER ACTIVATE!"

Guilmon cocked his head back as he felt power building up in the back of his throat, and he soon launched another blast at the attacking static digimon. Unexpectedly the attack was swatted aside and with a roar the twin cannons on its back powered up and fired. Guilmon tensed as he waited for the attack to hit him. And that was when he heard a childish giggle from off to the side and then the short, long eared digimon that he had seen earlier leapt in front of him.

"NO! TERRIERMON!" Shouted Henry from the sidelines. Terriermon looked up to see twin energy blasts roaring towards him, and his eyes widened as they impacted the ground on which he stood, causing a massive explosion. In a panic, Henry ran forward, crying out as his digivice suddenly burst with light.

D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N

"Wha…?" Henry brought out his digivice and then looked in the direction of where his partner was. A similar glow was being emitted from the same spot.

"TERRIERMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO… GARGOMON!"

The smoke cleared, revealing a cackling digimon similar in appearance to Terriermon, but was much larger, wearing pants, an ammunition belt slung across his body, and had a twin pair of gatling guns in place of his hands. Raising his arms, the guns went off, firing green laser bursts at the static digimon. Or at least trying to. For some reason he didn't seem able to control his attacks, and the recoil threw his aim off. More cars exploded and burst into flames as they were struck by the newly digivolved Champion digimon. Henry watched in shock as he saw his partner begin to go off the deep end, cackling loudly with each successive blast. He had hoped that this wouldn't have happened, and Terriermon had even promised not to let it happen either. So why did it?

Henry realized that he didn't have the luxury of asking that question, and he quickly dove behind a car with Takato as the crazed gun bunny continued to blast away.

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_Great,_ thought Ryan as he ducked behind a car, narrowly getting missed by another blast from Gargomon. _First the crazy girl, now the crazy rabbit. Why can't we ever get the easy ones for once? Just once?_

Poking his head out, he saw Renamon barely avoid Gargomon's lasers as she jumped towards the ceiling, only to literally have the roof brought down on her. He scanned the area trying to find his partner, and then wished he didn't once he saw the static entity slug him and throw him back almost to the entrance of the parking garage.

_We've got to do something, but we're restricted down here! We've got to get this fight to the surface if we're going to stand a chance!_

Unfortunately, Ryan didn't get the chance for that, as another round of lasers cut into the ceiling above him, forcing him to get out of the way.

_Jeez…_

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Renamon was watching as Gargomon fired relentlessly, not liking it one bit. _He's out of control,_ she thought, preparing to launch herself at the oversized rabbit digimon, only to watch him get shot at a second later by a burst of energy from the other digimon who finally got tired of the constant chaos that Gargomon was creating with his unfocused attacks. In a way, Renamon was relieved, because it meant that should Gargomon now be out of the fight Rika would be in less danger. However, this was also a double edged sword, because it also meant that if Gargomon was now down then they would have to face the earlier opponent. Not that she wasn't confident in her abilities or in Rika's, but this new digimon was something that she had never seen before, and it was clear that her attacks didn't affect it. She needed to come up with something else to stop it, and right now, whether she liked it or not, the boy with the Armor digimon was now her best bet at stopping it.

"**Tail Blade!"**

Talonmon whipped his tail around and sent an energy slash straight at his opponent, only to have it cut in half by the creature's cannons.

_This isn't good,_ thought Talonmon. _Why couldn't John have supplied me with a Golden Digi-egg or something? That would have made much more of a difference…_

Oh well. What was done was done. John may have suspected that they'd have a run-in with Rika, but Talonmon had a feeling that there was no way that he could have expected things to go this way. All that was left to do now fight, and hope that things came out okay. Charging forward, Talonmon raised his claws and slashed at the static entity, tearing out chunks of data that was simply being restored faster than he could destroy it. A second later he was punched almost all the way to the parking lots entrance. Sparks flew as his metal form skidded on the concrete. He heard Gargomon continue to cackle away as he fired almost nonstop, only to be cut short by a cry from the gun bunny as an energy blast hit him. Talonmon rose once more to his feet. Seeing Renamon materialize above their mutual enemy, he nodded and charged forward just as soon as the fox digimon landed on the creature's head, covering its eyes with her paws.

"Way to go, Renamon! Now's your chance!" Called out Rika as Renamon landed on the static entity's head. A second later, the Armor digimon that had identified itself as Talonmon crashed into it headlong and began slashing once more with its claws.

"Renamon! What's with you? Attack that thing! Now!"

To the girl's shock, the vulpine digimon didn't do as she had commanded. Instead she just leapt back into the air as the static creature swatted Talonmon out of the way and made to grab at her. Deciding to reprimand Renamon later for her disobedience Rika dug into her deck box and pulled out a card, intent on giving Renamon the edge that she needed to defeat this insignificant digimon. If only she knew what its stats were, then she'd have a better idea of what card to use. The past couple of days had just been a little too weird for her. She had already encountered three digimon that she could not get any data on (she had scanned the Gogglehead's pet dino as soon as they had come charging in), two kids who claimed to know her and one of them could attack like a digimon. If there was one thing that she didn't like, it was surprises like this that just kept popping up out of know where.

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Over in a corner, a small, white digimon with large ears groaned sadly at the chaos that was enfolding in front of him. His ears shrunk into his head and he turned away. The red triangle on his forehead was glowing slightly.

"Don't they know that they don't have to act like this?"

The resounding crash of attacks being pronounced was the only answer that he got.

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"We've got to do something!" Exclaimed Takato as he watched the battle continue back and forth. At the moment, Guilmon was just standing there, watching as well, not knowing what to do as the carnage raged around him. Gargomon was currently struggling to get back onto his feet, but for the moment the energy seemed to have been wiped out of him, and he soon fell back with a groan and a thud. Next to Takato, Henry was mumbling something about how Gargomon didn't at all resemble Terriermon at all. He was still in a state of shock over his partner's indiscriminate attacks.

"Henry! You've got to snap out of it! We have to help them! _Please!_"

Henry didn't show any signs of _snapping out of it_, so Takato looked back and forth between the battle and his friend for another moment before drawing a card from his pocket again.

"GUILMON!" He called out, and the red dino finally came to. Charging towards the battle as Takato ran the card through his digivice.

"DIGI-MODIFY! SPEED ACTIVATE!"

And then Guilmon was shot backwards as an energy blast struck him full in the chest.

"Or not…" Takato sweat dropped as Guilmon crashed to the ground.

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Ryan gripped his digivice tightly. He had moved twice in the course of the battle, and was trying to concentrate on giving his partner some help. After a few, tense minutes he finally got his wish. A ring of data formed itself around Talonmon's right arm, and it reformatted itself into a spear. Lunging, Talonmon stabbed with his new weapon, only to have it caught by the static entities arms.

Fortunately for Talonmon, Ryan had anticipated this, and another ring of data formed itself around the arm, reformatting it into a cannon. Talonmon powered it up and let loose, causing a massive explosion. After a few seconds, Richoemon, having de-digivolved from the energy that he released from the cannon, stumbled out of the smoke that had been kicked up and collapsed to the ground. Crossing his fingers, Ryan hoped that that shot had ended the battle right there.

As the smoke cleared, Ryan's face fell. Apparently it hadn't been enough.

_No…_

The static entity hissed and turned towards the helpless rookie, powering up its cannons once more.

"RICHOEMON!"

"**Diamond Storm!"**

A rain of crystal shards crashed into the static creature's form, this time tearing off bits of data. Not enough to do any real harm, but enough to get its attention. It was just about to change targets when it registered another voice, followed by a charge of energy.

"DIGI-MODIFY! POWER ACTIV…!"

With a roar, the static entity changed targets and fired. It's shots aimed at the Tamer of Renamon. Renamon's eyes widened in surprise.

"RIKA! NO!!!"

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Rika gave a startled cry as she was shoved out of the way. Looking behind her as she began to fall towards the ground she saw the kid who's partner she had been trying to kill earlier take the full force of the attack that was meant for her. In the time space of a second, his form began to phase out of existence and his features began to darken and disappear.

_NO!_

Reacting purely on instinct, Rika grabbed Ryan by the wrist and pulled him forward, not knowing why when it was clear that he was as good as dead. Ryan fell forward, hitting the ground with a sickening thud, his body returning to normal, but showed no signs of movement. Rika looked at him, as though for the first time, her eyes wide in shock, before finally settling on the digivice that had tumbled out of his hands. As though it had a will of its own, Rika's hand reached towards it.

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Ryan felt as though he was in limbo once more. Or maybe he had never left. No. He did leave. He was quite certain of that, but now he was back again.

_Is it just me, or does it seem like I have the **Curse of Kenny** from South Park? Or maybe it's more of the Star Trek **Red Shirt** phenomenon… aw heck. I just realized… I **am** wearing a red shirt! The irony of this is just sickening…_

Opening his eyes, Ryan saw that words surrounded him. No doubt it was the script that had constantly been hounding him since he arrived in Shinjuku. He had seen it just before he had shoved Rika out of the path of that monster's attack. Maybe he could finally get an idea as to what it meant…

Reading the words, his eyes widened in shock.

_This is some sort of cruel joke, isn't it? Someone upstairs must **really** hate me or something. Why me…?_

Before Ryan could continue with his ranting, he felt a pressure on his wrist, and white light suddenly blanketed his vision. All became dark after that.

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Rika heard Ryan groan as her hand stretched towards the digivice, but she ignored him. As her fingers made contact with the digivice, a light shown from it that began to build in intensity. Images began to flash in her mind, but before she could make sense of them the light suddenly shut off. Looking down, the red haired Tamer gasped as she saw Ryan's form turn into static and then disappear. Looking up, she saw that the same fate had occurred to his partner Richoemon. Gone, as if they never were. The only proof of their existence was the digivice that she now held which, for some reason, didn't disappear with its owner.

"NO!" Rika pounded her fist on the floor in frustration, and then looked up startled as the static entity began to roar in pain. It's form phasing in and out of existence for a few moments before disappearing all together. Just like Ryan and Richoemon.

_Wha…? What's going on?_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Renamon stood blankly for a moment, unsure as to what exactly had just happened. Then a voice spoke to her in her mind.

"_Renamon…"_

Renamon's eyes widened.

"_Wha…? Who?"_

"_It's me. John. I'm… going to be gone for a little while, and I'm taking Ryan and his partner with me. I should be back in a couple weeks, but I can't be sure. Time here is pretty funny. Anyway, I have to tell you one thing before I go. It's for your Tamer's safety."_

Renamon's eyes narrowed.

"_And that would be…?"_

"_Keep an eye out for an IceDevimon. He may be coming after her soon. That's about all I can tell you right now. Things are… a little bit hectic where I am. I'll try to see you again. … … Bye… …"_

"_Wait!"_

But it was too late. John's presence had already left her mind, and the sounds of sirens had already reached her ears. Phasing over to where Rika now stood clutching a strange digivice, Renamon looked over at the other Tamers.

"You had better get out of here," she said before disappearing into the shadows. The two boys and their digimon quickly took her advice.

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Later, after Renamon had gotten Rika home and things had quieted down a bit, Renamon appeared in front of the parking garage where the battle had taken place. Some strange things had happened down there, and unfortunately the only person who could have provided some answers to her questions had disappeared. Or so he had claimed. And what about his warning? Time would tell if his word would end up true or not. For now, all Renamon could do was keep a look out.

And wait.

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…

…

…

"_Well… that went well."_

"_You think so? I thought that it went pretty bad."_

"_It's called sarcasm, V-mon. You should give it a try sometime. By the way, what made you think that you could hurt that digital reject with a V-mon Head attack? You know that you can't touch anything while we're like this…"_

"_Reflex Daisuke. Sorry. I couldn't help it. I'm not used to not being able to touch things, what can I say?"_

"_That's a good question isn't it? You're gonna have to keep watching **Digimon, Digital Monsters** to find out the answers."_

"… … _You know, it's kind of annoying that you have to keep doing the original narrations even though we departed from the original script."_

"_If you want to lodge a complaint, get in line."_

"_Okay…"_

10


	31. Chapter 31

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. I don't own anything even remotely associated with it.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 30

Third Arc: 04

**Dusk Before Dawn**: Part 1

"AAAAAH!!! - UH!"

The elevator door slammed shut on the boy, cutting him off from the other two who were inside the elevator. Slamming into the doors the boy gave a shout of frustration and despair.

"KOJI!" Leaning against the doors, the boy, who wore a green t-shirt over a red sweater and a blue cap over his dark hair, felt his hope fall into a pit of despair as he once again missed his chance to talk to… _him_. One of the two boys who had just descended in the elevator, a boy who had dark hair and a dark blue bandana on his head, with a look on his face that spoke of indifference towards the world and everything in it. It _couldn't_ end this way. Not like this. Not when he had been so close to actually speaking to _him_. If only he hadn't been such a coward earlier he might've…

Looking to the side, the boy in the blue cap saw that the elevator was going down.

_That's it,_ he thought in wild desperation as he took off from the elevator, heading for the stairs. _There's still time!_

He raced towards the stairs, and began descending them at a rapid pace. He just had to get downstairs before it was too late! He had to see _him_. He had to see Koji before he went… wherever he was going and let him know that they were…

"UH!" The boy's foot slipped on one of the steps at the last flight, and he sailed towards the floor, his cap flying off his head right before he impacted the ground. Hard. Pain overwhelmed his body but he didn't seem to feel it. His only thoughts were of the boy that he had been trying to gather courage to meet face to face for weeks, and now it looked like he wasn't going to get that chance. The world swam before his eyes as people began to gather around him. A ways off, to what felt like miles to him, a child was crying and being comforted by its mother, and despair filled the boy's heart as the world began to grow dark.

_No…_ the boy thought as the face of another, one who looked so much like him that if it wasn't for the difference in style and facial expressions, they could have been mistaken for twins.

_… Koji…_

That was the boy's final thought before he disappeared into the realm of darkness.

* * *

The shadows were everywhere, all encompassing. For a second the boy thought that he had passed into the after life, and that he was a spirit. He shook his head. That couldn't be right. The boy turned his head from side to side, taking in his surroundings. There was something about it, something that struck a cord deep with in the depths of his soul.

_This looks familiar,_ the boy thought. _But how? The last thing that I remember was… the train station. And my brother; there was also some weird kid in a Halloween get up behind me as I headed towards the stai… hang on!_

The boy frowned visibly, his brow furrowed in thought as he strained in concentration, trying to dredge some important memory out of his mind so that he could fit the pieces of the puzzle together and… _make a connection._

_"It's the other Koji!"_

The boy's head snapped up. Something wasn't right. Not right at all. He didn't remember a strange kid behind him, or even saying that sentence. Of course, he had been a little distracted to notice if there was anyone really behind him…

_But if that's true, then how come I remember it so vividly? And why do I feel as though that I know that person? That is, if you can even call it a person…or rather… a **digimon**…_

That did it. More memories began to come to the boy now, and with it, the shocking realization that things were not the way that they should be. For some reason he was reliving an event that he had already lived through once. Literally. The boy chuckled a little at that tasteless joke.

After all, the adventure did technically kill him twice. Well, barely, though not for lack of trying that's for sure.

Then there followed a dark laughter from deep within the shadows. The boy knew who it was immediately, though on pure instinct he spoke, as though he knew that he had to keep up appearances.

"What do you want?"

_"I can help you…"_

A gust of wind blew over the boy, and he turned to look behind him. Behind him floated an object that looked like a miniature representation of a warrior. Twin dragon like skulls protruded from its shoulder guards, and on its chest and shoulder guards were great eyes. The one on the chest was glowing, as though it were marking the boy in some way.

"Who are you?"

_"I am the Emancipator of Darkness. Your burdens have hurt you, but you can turn your pain into **great power!** With this, the spirit… of darkness…"_

The item vanished into the shadows, and suddenly the boy clutched his hands to his head, a scream erupting from his throat as he felt a presence enter his body, his form changing into that of a dark warrior before returning to his original appearance. But this was an experience that he was already familiar with, and when the transformation ended, he knew what he had to do.

A dark laughter erupted from the massive entity that had appeared behind him. The boy recognized it immediately.

_Cherubimon…_

A dark light flooded the area, bathing it in its embrace. The darkness was everywhere. It was everything…

* * *

_Well this is just great,_ thought Ashley as she trudged through the field, feeling the aches in her feet as they began another round of screaming at the horror, the injustice, the incredible torture that was…

… Walking.

Actually it wasn't that bad. What made it bad was that Ruki Makino, the now through yet to be fully explained reasons, the ever-present announcer and voice in her head (as well as that of her other traveling companions Hirokazu, Guardromon, and Renamon), had taken it upon herself to be a brutal drill instructor, insisting that they walk on and on until the sun set. All so that they could get to some place called **_Forest Terminal_** before the Legendary Warriors got there.

_The least she could do is ease up on us. I don't know why we're in such a rush anyways. It's not like the Legendary Warriors reach that place right away. Don't they take the first ten episodes or so just to get there anyway, or something like that?_

Ashley could almost swear that she could here a pair of invisible knuckles cracking. Ashley tensed and waited for the moment to come.

**_POW!_**

Ashley blinked. She didn't feel anything. Before she could ask what the heck had just happened, Hirokazu fell to the ground with a groan, causing his partner, Guardromon, to bend over and pick him up for what had to be the seventh time that day with a sigh.

"Hirokazu you really need to watch what you're thinking. Did you forget that Ruki can read your mind while she's like this?"

"Uugghhh…" was the only response that the machine digimon got.

Ashley giggled. Hirokazu wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he could be entertaining.

_"Something funny, Ashley?"_ Asked Ruki

_Not particularly, though I have to admit, you do have the tendency to abuse Hirokazu a lot. If I didn't know any better I'd almost say that you liked him…_

_**POW! **_

Ashley stumbled, but managed to keep her footing.

_Owww… what? Was it something I said… er… thought? Whatever it was I didn't mean it!_

_"Don't play dumb with me, little girl! Now keep walking! That sun hasn't set yet, and I want to roll some miles off our journey sometime this century!"_

_You mean those of us who still have a physical body, right? You're not the one who's '**rolling the miles off'** as you put it. You're just a back seat driver… er… walker!_

_"Oh, **that's **clever. It's too bad that Davis isn't here. I'm sure that you two would get along just fine."_

_Actually we did. I had a talk with him back on the boat. Cute guy, though not very bright. But then, he doesn't have to be…_

_"… … Excuse me while I blow some chunks…"_

_Oh. Okay. Just don't get any on my brain okay? It's cramped enough in there without adding any puke._

_"… … … … You are the weirdest girl I have **ever** met, and there have been plenty of candidates for that position over the years. Congratulations."_

_Really? Ooooh! What do I get as a reward?_

_"Why did it have to be me…?" _Groaned Ruki, and Ashley once again giggled.

_So tell me,_ said Ashley. _What episode are we in now?_

_"If you recall I've only done the announcements once. So that means that we're in episode two. Koji should be getting his Spirit of Light sometime soon. I wish that we had a digivice so that we could track them or something…"_

_Doesn't Hirokazu have a digivice?_

_"**Reliable** digivice! I wouldn't trust anything that Hirokazu uses. Besides, he's probably broken it four or five times anyway."_

"Not true," piped up Hirokazu as he finally began to gain enough coherency to get down out of Guardromon's arms. "I've had to have my D-Arc replaced _eight_ times!"

_"Is he awake again? Let me change that!"_

_**POW!**_

"You know, Hirokazu," said Ashley. "Somehow I don't think that telling us how many times that you've broken your digivice is something to be proud of."

_"**Finally!** Something we can **both** agree on!"_

"YIPEE! That means that we're connecting! Oh, we can be _sisters_!"

_"Ug. I'm going to talk to Renamon now…"_

"Ohhh… but we were having a _moment_!"

Ashley looked over at Guardromon.

"Hey. Big Guy. Do you know how much longer it'll be before we get to Forest Terminal?"

"If I recall the episodes correctly, it will take us a total of thirteen episodes to get there. As we've been here for one so far, we have about twelve shows to go."

Ashley sweat dropped. "That's… not what I meant. How _long_ will it take for us to get there?"

"Six hours," Guardromon responded swiftly. Ashley smiled.

"Great. So that means that we should be there pretty soon, right?"

_"Somehow, I don't think that's Guardromon understood what you meant yet,"_ grumbled Ruki.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Asked the blonde haired girl, confusion etching its way onto her face.

"Episodes run on thirty minute formats," said Renamon with a sigh. "You do the math."

"I wasn't very good at math…"

_"Then let me help you speed it up then, Blondie," _said Ruki irritably. _"Two episodes equal one hour, and if there's twelve episodes it would take six hours to get to the Forest Terminal. That is, if we were back home or in the real world watching the show, which we're most definitely **not!"**_

"What my partner is trying to say," said Renamon calmly. "Is that it's going to take us a lot longer than six hours to get to Forest Terminal. We may be days out here…"

"Oh great. Well, it's a good thing that I was sensible enough to wear sneakers," said Ashley with a groan. "Though I'm not going to be fond of all that walking. And then there's the problem of trying to find food."

"Ahhh… I wouldn't worry about it too much," said Hirokazu. "The Legendary Warrior bunch were able to go a pretty decent amount of time of not eating anything without complaining. I'm sure that we'll be fine."

_"I don't believe it. Hirokazu actually makes a really good point."_

"Ouch. Sorry, Ruki."

_"Whatever. In a way I should have expected this. It's what happens when a company like Saban Entertainment gets bought by Disney. You cut corners more and make things a little bit more silly."_

"I didn't think that Disney had anything to do with how Digimon was produced as a show, aside from making it suitable for American audiences that is."

_"You never know. I'm just glad that they didn't have the characters breaking out into song and dance every five minutes."_

"Wow. That's something else we can both agree on."

* * *

In a land shrouded in darkness, a being of immense power watched the new group of children as they marched through the wide-open field. It considered them for a moment, wondering what their purpose could possibly be in this world. Turning towards those gathered in his chamber, the being known only as Cherubimon smiled and looked at three of his five followers.

"Those new children, the ones who _didn't_ arrive on the Trailmon, they intrigue me. Bring them to me. _Unharmed_. Is that understood?"

Three of the digimon who were kneeling before Cherubimon nodded.

"Don't worry sir," said a distinct female voice with an accent akin to the southern region of the United States. "We'll have those little kiddies here for you in no time."

"Don't underestimate them Ranamon," said Cherubimon. "I sense something strange about them. In either case, Grumblemon, you will continue with gathering fractal code. Duskmon, you will stay here…"

"Master," growled a dark armored warrior with two dragon skulls where his hands should have been. "I would like to accompany the other three and see how these new children handle themselves. I have no desire to sit on the sidelines while others do the dirty work."

Cherubimon was silent for a moment.

"Very well Duskmon," he said finally. "You may go with them if that is your wish, but do not engage unless it is absolutely necessary. Remember, I do not want them harmed. _Yet_."

The being that had been addressed as _Duskmon_ nodded and got up.

_Soon, I shall get to the bottom of this,_ he thought darkly.

* * *

A/N: Ah, that's it for this chapter. Sorry if it's not much else, but after my brief hiatus from writing (due to school work. Groans) I needed something to get my feet wet, so to speak, and this chapter was meant to establish a bit of the plot that I'm preparing for this season of the story. Still don't have it completely worked out yet due to my in-familiarity with working with the characters from Frontier (having only watched the season once). Hope you liked it. Later.

-Crazyeight

6


	32. Chapter 32

Disclaimer: It is highly probable that I don't own Digimon

The Four Seasons: Chapter 31

Third Arc: 04

**Dusk Before Dawn**: Part 2

_"Ug. Leave me alone…"_

"But why? All I was doing was talking about hair curling, and you've gotta admit Ruki, you are in desperate need of a better hair style…"

_"Let me tell you something, Blondie! I don't **care** about how my hair looks! And I'm not going to listen to any advice from a stupid Mary Sue type character! Character's like you annoy me to no end!"_

"I don't know, Ruki," said Hirokazu. "She does have a point. You've been wearing that same ponytail since our series made its debut in 2001. Don't you think that it's time to get a new look?"

_"…"_

_**POW!**_

Hirokazu fell backwards, hitting the soft dirt with a thud, a groan escaping his lips as he collapsed. Guardromon sighed as he picked up his Tamer once again and dutifully marched onward.

"Perhaps a few rounds of _100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall_ would help pass the time better?" The robot suggested.

_"An excellent idea, only there's a problem with that. We're in a fic based off of a kid's show, so we can't swear."_

"Oh, please," said Ashley. "Some of the fics that I've read back at the FanFic Domain have contained some pretty foul language, and some of them weren't even in English. I don't see what's stopping us from singing a song like that."

_"It's simple, Blondie. This place has a censor on it, preventing us from being more **colorful** then we could be. Go ahead; give it a try. I guarantee that you won't be able to get any bad words out of your mouth."_

"Okay. I'll start with the least bad ones and work my way down the list. Let's see…" Ashley's mind began to cast about for a suitable word to start things off when suddenly something caught her eye, something a ways off in the distance. "Oooh. I see something shiny."

Ruki groaned mentally.

_"Is it just me, or does that girl have a short attention span?"_

"I'm sure that it's the story censor kicking in," said Renamon. Ashley whirled about to face the others, a confused, yet thoughtful expression on her face.

"I'm sorry. What were we talking about? I seem to have forgotten."

Renamon turned to Guardromon. "I'm curious. If there's a censor keeping us from saying certain words, then how come you were able to say _beer_?"

"I was speaking off-script," said the giant android.

"But aren't we speaking off-script anyhow, since we don't have a script to work with?"

"You know… that's a good point. Perhaps you can get Ruki to say something that will prove it."

_"Unfortunately, I'm the narrator of this show so I can't. I have to obey the rules set up here. And why are we even talking about this? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that this is some kind of random rambling from a writer trying desperately to get some dialogue out of the characters. If that's the case, why doesn't he go and do something with the Frontier kids? I'm sure that readers would like to know what they're up to."_

"Unfortunately according to my sensors it appears that he already is focusing on the Frontier children, but it's also probable that he's also writing about our doings because we happen to be in this world as well. Every character, no matter how small or important has their moves dictated by the author while they're in his story."

"Now that's creepy," said Ashley with a shiver. "I can almost believe Chris's friend, Ryan, when he says that we have no free will in these things."

_"Well, he does have a point."_

"Though I'd rather _not_ think about it," groaned Hirokazu.

"You think?" Asked Guardromon.

"Oh, that's clever. Good one, amigo."

* * *

The flower blew in the slight breeze that had kicked up, flowing freely as it bent with the wind. Innocent, carefree, the flower had no cares in the world. All it looked forward to was the warm rays of the sun, time without end… 

_CRUNCH!_

An emerald, pointy shaped shoe stamped down on the flower, crushing it beneath its heel with indifference as its owner looked at the group of children and digimon as they strode in the field. Through the miracle of dramatic tension, the owner of the boot, and his three companions, had yet to be noticed despite the fact that they were out in the open. Of course, they didn't know that.

"I see we have found our illusive prey," spoke up a green, armored warrior with twin shields on his arms, and his head coming into a point. A mirror was where his face should have been, and a mouth, sharp and intelligent looking, was curved upwards in a smile. Next to him was a blue colored female amphibian humanoid, a haughty smile on her face as her gaze followed her companions.

"So Mercurymon," she said. "Which one would you like first? I myself would like to take on the blonde girl, but she doesn't look like she'd be worth the effort. Not at all."

"I don't care what you do Ranamon," the one that she had addressed as Mercurymon said. "Just so long as we bring them back to Cherubimon."

Behind the pair, the dark form of Duskmon shifted, and next to him, a light brown colored creature, mechanical in appearance, looked on nonchalantly at the pair in front of him.

"Hmmm… perhaps that fox digimon. I wonder… Cherubimon didn't say anything about bringing the digimon in alive, do you think that he'll…" the humanoid amphibian that Mercurymon had referred to as Ranamon let the sentence drift off, letting the silence speak for her. The mechanical digimon behind them answered for Mercurymon.

"Better leave 'em alive, just in case, and ask Cherubimon what to do with them later. Wouldn't want the boss to be mad at us. _Don't rock the boat_, I always say."

"Indeed, Arbormon," said Mercurymon with some scorn in his voice. He turned to Duskmon. "Remember. You are not to interfere."

"Correction," replied Duskmon coldly. "I am not to interfere until it's _absolutely necessary_. And you don't need to remind me."

"Just making sure that you know your place, naïve," said Mercurymon as he turned away and began to run towards their targets, his two companions Ranamon and Arbormon following closely behind him. Duskmon watched them with cold eyes.

_I don't need you to tell me my place fool,_ Duskmon thought harshly. The Legendary Warrior of Darkness watched them for a moment before letting his eyes wander over the field, his vision settling on another figure, a short ways off from the group that he and the others had been pursuing. Duskmon watched this figure for a moment, and narrowed his eyes. There was something about it. Something important.

_Hmmm… I wonder… That one may just be part of the answer that I'm looking for._

* * *

The group had been traveling in silence for the past few minutes, which was a surprise. Not even Hirokazu had something witty to say (something that Ruki was _very_ grateful for), but even so, this was rather disturbing. Even Renamon felt a little off by the silence, as though the air was waiting for something to happen. 

Finally Ruki spoke, or rather thought, up and broke the silence.

_"Hey. Does anyone else hear the heightened drama music?"_

"No…" began Ashley, only to be shoved to the ground, just barely dodging an energy blast. Ashley screamed as she hit the dirt. Recovering herself she looked over her shoulder and saw that Renamon was holding her down.

"What's…?"

"Hush," said Renamon. "We're under attack. Stay down, and stay out of sight."

"Mercurymon," spoke a voice loudly with the sound of irritation lacing the words. "As much as I like the idea of destroying the useless humans, I thought that we were supposed to _capture_ them, and bring them to Cherubimon _unharmed_. You remember what unharmed means, right? As in, to _not hurt_?"

_"Oh great," _growled Ruki. _"It's the evil Legendary Warriors. Why the heck are they attacking us?"_

"HEY!" Shouted a voice that could only belong to Hirokazu. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, **USELESS HUMANS!?** AND WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING US?"

_"As if that's hard to explain,"_ said Ruki sarcastically. _"If you were at all listening, Cherubimon wants to capture us."_

"Phhht! No one captures us when we're not part of the story. C'mon Guardromon! Let's show these bums the door!"

"I don't see any doors to show them," said the giant mechanical digimon.

_"Oh for goodness sake,"_ exclaimed Ruki. _"Let's just take them down! Renamon? BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"_

There followed a brief pause, in which Mercurymon, not aware of Ruki's existence, shot a reply to Hirokazu pretty much along the same lines of what Ruki had just said, and Renamon to remind her partner mentally that they were currently unable to biomerge and digivolve to the Mega level. Ruki groaned.

_"Oh this is just great,"_ said Ruki. _"Renamon, just walk all over them."_

"Yeah!" Said Ashley excitedly. "We'll be cheering from the sidelines!"

_"You are one **very** stupid girl…"_

"All right," said Hirokazu as he slashed a card through his D-Arc. "DIGI-MODIFY! SPEED ACTIVATE!"

Guardromon's engines kicked in and he flew towards the Legendary Warriors, missile launchers coming out of his forearms and firing their payload at his enemies.

**"Destruction Grenade!"**

The missiles whistled towards their targets, but the dark Legendary Warriors took them with a smile.

KA-BOOM!

The missiles hit dead on their targets, kicking up smoke, fire, and dirt. A wind blew the black smoke away, revealing the three warriors to be unharmed. Arbormon rushed towards Guardromon, and shot a seed from his mouth at the robot.

"**Blockade Seed!"**

The seed exploded on the robot who, even with the aid of the Speed card that Hirokazu had slashed, was unable to evade the attack. Vines sprouted from the seed and wrapped themselves around Guardromon, causing him to cry out and collapse to the ground. Hirokazu was stunned.

"Get up, Guardromon! This is no time to be napping!"

"I can't…" whined Guardromon.

"Why not?"

"Duh," said Ashley. "Blockade Seed drains the energy out of the enemy that it attacks. To dumb it down for you, Guardromon needs new batteries."

"Oh man… where's the Energizer Rabbit when you need him?"

Arbormon extended his arms, and his hands shot out, aiming towards Ashley and Hirokazu, grabbing them and pulling them towards the Legendary Warriors.

"HEY!" Shouted Ashley. "PUT US DOWN YOU CREEPS!"

"Or you'll what?" Asked Ranamon. "You're hardly in any position to do anything against us. You're powerless!"

"**Wisteria Punch!"**

"Whoops," said Ranamon with a giggle. "Hold that thought. **Drainin' Rain!"**

A dark cloud appeared over Renamon and cut loose with a massive, but concentrated rainstorm that drenched the vulpine digimon and left her drained and weakened. Ashley cried out as their last defender collapsed to the ground.

_Nuts. I was so hoping to see a Renamon vs. Ranamon battle. That would have been interesting…_

"_HEY! THAT'S MY PARTNER LYING ON THE GROUND, BLONDIE! YOU'RE ABOUT TO BE DRAGGED TO CHERUBIMON AS A PRISONER AND THE ONLY THING THAT YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT IS THAT YOU MISSED OUT ON A **FIGHT THAT YOU HOPED WOULD LAST LONGER?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!!!"**_

As Ruki continued to rant on in the poor girl's head, a shadow flashed overhead and a crimson blade slashed downwards, severing Arbormon's hands from his arms, causing the Legendary Warrior of Wood to cry out in pain while the others stared in surprise at this development.

"DUSKMON," cried out Ranamon. "WHAT'RE YOU DOING?!"

"Proving to you that I am no one's servant," said the dark warrior simply. "And to open your eyes to the truth. Things aren't what they are supposed to be. We are all being manipulated. Let these children go. They have nothing to do with you."

The Legendary Warriors glared at each other for a moment, and then Mercurymon spoke.

"Destroy the traitor," said the Warrior of Steel as he raised his twin arm shields, and aimed them at Duskmon, who raised his skull hands and extended a red sword blade from one of them.

"So be it," growled Duskmon. Mercurymon fired an energy blast from his shields, and Duskmon dodged them, firing red rays from the eyes on his shoulder guards and chest.

"**Deadly Gaze!"**

The crimson lasers connected with one of Mercurymon's shields, only to be reflected right back at Duskmon.

"**Dark Reflection!"**

The lasers connected with the dark warrior, causing him to cry out in pain as he fell onto the ground. Ranamon raised her arms towards the sky and called out her attack to finish off the Warrior of Darkness.

"**Drainin' Rain!"**

Duskmon rolled to his feet and jumped out of the way, slashing with a crimson blade and sending a red energy slash at the Warrior of Water, who also dodged the attack, laughing all the while.

"You'll have to do better then that…" Ranamon taunted. Duskmon growled.

Renamon groaned as she raised her exhausted body from off the ground, her calculating eyes edging towards the scene of the battle. She didn't know why Duskmon was helping them, but she was at this moment glad for it. Like that age-old cliché went: _The enemy of my enemy is my friend_.

She wanted to help the valiant warrior, but she lacked the strength to do so. If only Ruki was able to help her…

"_Renamon."_

_Ruki?_

"_We've got to help Duskmon."_

_But how? We can't biomerge, and without a physical body you can't digivolve me or use your cards._

"_Renamon? What did we go through in the digital world that helped us become Sakuyamon? We went on a leap of faith. Literally. I know that it was just a show, but I'm willing to do the same thing again if you're willing to try also. Are you with me?"_

Renamon considered it for a moment, and then there was a bright light, followed by the sound of two hearts beating as one. Involuntarily words came from Renamon's lips.

"RENAMON, BIOMERGE TOOO…"

"KUZUHAMON!"

* * *

Ranamon landed in front of Ashley Brahms while Mercurymon squared off with Duskmon. Ashley tried to run off but she tripped and fell back onto the ground. Smiling, Ranamon reached towards the blonde haired girl. 

"All right, dear," said Ranamon. "Why don't you be a good little girl and just come with…"

"**Dragon Helix!"**

A dark colored fox spirit slammed into Ranamon, throwing her to the side, away from Ashley. Growling, Ranamon got to her feet, determined to pay the attacker back, and then stopped as she saw who it was.

Standing in front of her was a tall, female humanoid shaman wearing purple armor, a violet colored fox mask, long hair tied back to give a resemblance to two fox tails, and a face that was grim and pale. She held a long staff with rings at the top, poised and ready. Ranamon recognized it as a dark, Mega level digimon, and as powerful as she was, Ranamon wasn't sure if she wanted to face off against that. Looking over to the side Ranamon suddenly smiled as she saw the now maimed Arbormon coming up on the shaman from behind. Perhaps she did stand a chance after all.

"All right, dahlin," said Ranamon. "You think that you have what it takes to go one on one with me?"

"Is that a trick question?" Asked the shaman coldly and raised her vajra staff. She prepared to launch an attack when Arbormon spun his legs around, extending outwards and aimed at Kuzuhamon's head.

"**Roundhouse Punt!"**

"Wha…?" Began Kuzuhamon as she turned her face towards the attack. She had no time to dodge it.

"**Dominion Blade!"**

Suddenly a white energy slash ripped through Arbormon's legs, effectively severing them from the rest of his body, and he fell to the ground with a cry, his fractal code appearing about his body. Ranamon whirled about, raising her arms in pronunciation of her attack, only to have them snagged by… strands of hair? Looking at her new assailant Ranamon's eyes widened at the sight of a child sized digimon, with a winged helmet over her head, long dark, braided hair that was now restraining Ranamon's arms, a small shield held in her left hand and a massive sword in her right that she wielded with seemingly no trouble at all. The girl digimon hefted the blade easily and cocked her head.

_A Minervamon,_ thought Ranamon.

"I don't know what's going on here," said the digimon with a voice that was energetic, childish, and had a touch of annoyance in it as well. "But I don't hold with attacks on innocent children. Time to show you the road! **Madness Merry-Go-Round!"**

Ranamon let out a shout of surprise as Minervamon's hair lifted her off her feet and spun her around in the air before releasing her and sending the Warrior of Water straight into the stratosphere, disappearing in a twinkle of light.

_And we're blasting off again…_ thought Ruki from within Kuzuhamon. A short ways off, Mercurymon screamed in pain as Duskmon finally landed a blow on him. Regaining his balance, Mercurymon decided that now was a decent time to retreat.

"I shall return!" Said the Warrior of Steel, only to be stopped as braided dark hair ensnared themselves around his ankles.

"Sorry. No General MacArthur moments out of you, buddy! Get 'em Kuzuhamon!"

"**Womb Realm Mandala!"**

Purple colored energy smashed into Mercurymon, knocking him off his feet, and Minervamon took her turn, swinging him around with her hair and smashing him into the earth.

"**Madness Merry-Go-Round!"**

Duskmon walked over to the fallen warrior and stood over him. Mercurymon looked at him defiantly.

"All right," he spat. "Finish it!"

"I will," said Duskmon. "But not in this form."

With that said, Duskmon's form shifted, his body changing from that of a dark, demonic appearance to armor with lion representations on covering it, his eyes losing the dark rage that had been in them, becoming more calm. Accepting. In one hand he held a trident, and in the other he held a strange device that Ruki recognized as a D-Tector. Fractal Code appeared around Mercurymon's body.

"Time to be purified by the darkness," said Loewemon as he raised his D-Tector.

8


	33. Chapter 33

Disclaimer: And here's another message from your author. I don't own Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 32

Third Arc: 04

**Dusk Before Dawn**: Part 3

Koichi looked down at his D-Tector, flipping through the images of the spirits of steel and wood that he had just claimed. That of water was still out there, but he wasn't too worried about it. Pocketing the digivice, Koichi looked up at Kuzuhamon.

"Okay. Now I know, or at least I have an idea, about what's going on. One thing that I don't understand is how you two were able to biomerge even though Ruki didn't have a physical body. And why did you two become Kuzuhamon? Normally that form only shows up in fan fiction, so what's going on with that? Usually you become Sakuyamon."

"I have a theory about that," said Kuzuhamon in Renamon's voice.

"Do tell," said Ruki.

"Great," said Hirokazu, rolling his eyes. "They're talking to themselves now…"

Ashley leaned over and smacked the visor-wearing Tamer upside the head.

"Would you just shut up so that we can hear what Renamon has to say? 'Cause I'm interested in it!"

"Ow… sorry…"

Next to Ashley, the diminutive Mega Olympian digimon known as Minervamon smiled and gave Ashley the thumbs up.

"Good one," said the female digimon with a hearty chuckle, and Ashley beamed. Hirokazu just shook his head.

"Why is everyone so mean to me today?" The boy wondered.

"Because you're annoying," said Ruki's voice from Kuzuhamon. "Now if you're finished, can Renamon get around to telling us her theory _without_ interruptions?"

"Thank you, Ruki," said Renamon with a sigh. "As I was saying, I believe that Ruki and I were able to tap into the same power that had first enabled us to biomerge back in the TV show…"

Ashley raised a confused eyebrow. "I didn't think that there were any Digi-gnomes around in this season."

"There aren't," said Koichi. "At least not as far as I know. It's quite possible that their abilities exist in every season though." Koichi suddenly laughed. "After all, it's not like we'd have been able to attain all of our high-level forms and beat the type of enemies that we have faced in all that time without it. Without faith."

"Hmmm… I always thought that it was because it was in the script for you guys to win in the end…"

"_Ahem!_"

Everyone turned to Kuzuhamon.

"Renamon?"

"Yes. Anyway, I believe that it was through our faith in each other, and our bond as a Tamer and a digimon that enabled us to biomerge. However, because of Ruki's condition the merge wasn't a perfect one, so our current form is an _imperfect reflection_ of our true appearance."

"Well that made sense," said Ashley.

"I'm glad that it did to someone," said Minervamon. "I think that my head's gone all spinney."

Ashley giggled. "I'll explain it to you later if you'd like…"

"Hold it," said Kuzuhamon. "Not that we aren't grateful for your last minute rescue or anything, but do you mind telling us who you are and what it is that you're doing here?"

Hirokazu got Kuzuhamon's attention with some brief arm waving and pointed at his D-Arc, which displayed a halo circle complete with Minervamon's stats.

**Minervamon **

**Stage: Mega**

**Type: Virus**

**Special Attacks: Madness Merry-Go-Round, Strike Roll, Dominion Blade**

"Okay," grated Kuzuhamon in Ruki's voice. "Never mind about the name. How about what it is you're doing here? It can't be just a coincidence that you showed up when you did."

Minervamon began to visibly sweat, and she lowered her head with an expression (as much of one that could be seen with her mask covering her face) of shame.

"Um… that's just the problem. You see… I don't know how I got here. I just sort of… _woke up_ as I am now, with no memories as to how I got here or where I came from. All I know is, I've been wandering around for a while, helping digimon out where I can, and then I saw you guys in trouble. I don't know what all this talk is about _FanFic Domain_ and _Authors_, but for some reason I have this feeling that it sounds like I should. Sorry that I can't tell you more." Minervamon's voice trembled a little at the end of that sentence. Ashley placed a comforting hand on the little Mega's shoulder.

"Don't worry," she said. "Tell you what. You can hang with us, and we'll help you find out what you're looking for."

"Really?"

"Not so fast, Blondie!" Exclaimed Kuzuhamon. "What makes you think that you get to decide who gets to join our posse anyway? And don't we _already_ have something to take care of? Like, getting out of here?"

"Aw, c'mon Kuzuhamon," said Hirokazu. "She did help us, and we could use the extra muscle. Not that I don't mind hogging all the action on the battle field and kicking butt with Guardromon by my side, but even we can't take on Cherubimon. We're going to need some help if he decides to come after us for taking out his Legendary Warrior crowd."

Kuzuhamon seemed to look inwardly for a moment before speaking in Renamon's voice.

"He does have a point Ruki."

"Oh, I don't believe this," said Kuzuhamon in Ruki's voice. Hirokazu, Guardromon, Minervamon, and Koichi sweat dropped. In all honesty they were finding it just a _little _bit weird watching the Mega level shaman conversing with herself. "We know next to nothing about this digimon. She just shows up out of nowhere and gives us a hand, with some story that she has amnesia and we're _asking_ her to join us? Are you kidding me? For all we know she could be a trap or something! Did any of you guys think about that?!"

"She does have a point," said Guardromon carefully. Minervamon hung her head.

"It's okay," said the child-sized shaman-warrior. "I don't want to be a bother or anything…"

"She's staying," said Koichi firmly, and everyone turned to look at him in surprise. Koichi looked at Kuzuhamon, his eyes narrowed. They did not waver.

"Don't ask me to explain this, but I have a feeling that she's going to be important during our journey in finding the others and getting home. It may be just a feeling, but I've always been willing to place my trust in it, so whether you like it or not, Minervamon's staying. And as Hirokazu said, we may need her to guard our backs while we head to Forest Terminal. I doubt Cherubimon isn't going to take to well to his Legendary Warriors being dispatched so easily, and since Minervamon was also involved in the fight it stands to reason that Cherubimon might go after her as well."

Kuzuhamon growled and looked at Minervamon, her mouth set in a grimace. Minervamon blanched under Kuzuhamon's glare.

"Fine. But if I see something that gives me reason to think that she's going to double-cross us, kiss her data good-bye!"

"Understood," mumbled Minervamon as she fidgeted with her too-large sword.

"Good," said Kuzuhamon. "Now let's get going. We have a long way to go to get to Forest Terminal…"

"Um," began Minervamon. "That's an interesting coincidence, 'cause… uh… I was heading to Forest Terminal as well."

Suddenly Ashley Brahms crushed Minervamon in a huge hug as she lifted the child Mega off the ground and began laughing uncontrollably.

"Wow! That is like, _so_ awesome! Maybe it's fate! Maybe it's _destiny!_ Maybe…"

"Maybe it's in the script," muttered Hirokazu while Ashley continued to rattle off multiple words for _destiny_ as though she were a human thesaurus. Kuzuhamon sweat dropped and then suddenly stiffened as words came from her mouth involuntarily.

_"Wolf boy has some pretty sweet moves, but what's with the attitude? To find out, keep watching **Digimon, Digital Monsters!"**_

There was a brief silence as everyone stared at Kuzuhamon for a second, blinking in surprise. Even Ashley was stunned enough to let go of Minervamon, and the tiny Mega took a deep breath of much needed air.

"Huh," said Hirokazu. "I would have thought that you would stop doing the show's ending narration once you biomerged with Renamon."

"Doesn't look like that's the case," said Koichi, blinking in surprise again. Minervamon looked back and forth among her new traveling companions, and suddenly began to feel a little bit worried.

"Is it always this way with you guys?"

Ashley turned towards Minervamon and gave her a huge smile. "Yup!"

Kuzuhamon and Minervamon groaned.

* * *

Ranamon crashed to the ground, digging up a huge trench as she landed. Darkness clouded her vision, and for some time she knew no more. After some time had passed, Ranamon felt something calling out to her. Opening her eyes with some effort, Ranamon struggled to a sitting position, and found herself looking at the large and fearsome form of her lord and master, Cherubimon. Ranamon felt fear in her heart, and being as tired as she was she made no effort to hide it.

Cherubimon laughed.

_"Ranamon,"_ spoke the once former Celestial digimon. _"You are one of my last warriors, but I see that those children are too powerful for you."_

"No!" Exclaimed Ranamon. "I was just… caught off guard! If it wasn't for that stupid Minervamon we would have had them…"

_"Spare me your pathetic excuses. I have a mission for you, and it cannot wait. The wielders of the spirits of Legendary Warriors are currently weak. Vulnerable. I believe that it is they that you should contend with, alongside Grumblemon once he finds his Beast Spirit. Increase your efforts to find yours as well, but be sure to destroy the children before they grow to be a nuisance. I shall deal with the others… **personally**."_

Ranamon nodded, and Cherubimon's dark form faded, leaving Ranamon with a feeling of relief as she collapsed back in her trench, unconsciousness stealing over her once again.

* * *

The group of two children, one biomerged Mega digimon, and two digimon continued to walk until they came across a forest (though Kuzuhamon had to tell Ashley that just because it was a forest, that did not mean that it was the _Forest Terminal_). Deciding that this would be a good place to set up camp, the group set about to gather fire wood and search for anything that they could eat (taking a moment to note that there was a fine group of something that Kuzuhamon and Minervamon identified as _Meat Apples_ that turned out was going to be their dinner). The sun began to set over the horizon, bathing the land with a golden glow that was fast fading, and pretty soon the group began to bed down for the night, Kuzuhamon making a point to set up a watch routine (with herself going first). She told Guardromon that she would have him relieve her in a couple hours.

As the light faded from the woods, no one noticed the Tapirmon that hid in the trees, watching them, and laughing silently to itself.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the shorter then usual chapter, but I've encountered a very, very slight brain jam when dealing with Frontier at this point in the season. It should clear up pretty soon. I've got some ideas kicking around on the back burner, it's just the problem is that they're all _later _in the season (sighs in exasperation). Don't worry, I'll figure something out. Later.

-Crazyeight

5


	34. Chapter 34

Disclaimer: I don't own any Digimon related merchandise.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 33

Third Arc: 04

**Dusk Before Dawn**: Part 4

Ashley rolled to the side, her field of vision falling on the fire that still burned and crackled in the starry night, and the figures that were gathered around it. Minervamon sat in front of Guardromon, who was currently staring into the fire with an empty look in his eyes.

_Wonder if he's shut down,_ thought Ashley as she sat up with a groan. Looking to Guardromon's side she saw that Hirokazu was flat out on the ground, snoring away like there was no tomorrow. Deciding that she wasn't going to get any sleep with the visor wearing kid sawing wood, Ashley got up and walked over to the fire, sitting down next to Minervamon with a small smile on her face. Minervamon gave her a curious look (if you could call it a curious look with her mask covering most of her face).

"Can't sleep?" She asked. Ashley shook her head.

"Not with _punk boy _there snoring away. Besides, this is my first night in the digital world so I guess I have a reason to feel restless."

"I see," said Minervamon as she turned her face towards the sky, looking at the three moons that hung in the sky, glowing with an almost supernatural light. Ashley watched Minervamon with curious eyes.

"Hey," Ashley said. "You okay?"

Minervamon turned back towards Ashley, a little startled. "Um… yeah. It's just… well, sometimes I look up at the moons and I wonder if I can find the answers to my questions. I wish that I knew something about myself that could help me, but I don't. All I know is that I'm supposed to be a part of a group of digimon called the _Olympian Twelve_, but I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. I'd just like to know why I'm here, and what my purpose is."

Ashley placed a comforting hand on Minervamon's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it. I said that we'd help you, didn't I? And that's just what we're going to do."

"Your friend Kuzuhamon doesn't think that you should…"

"Oh, don't mind Ruki. She's naturally suspicious of everything."

"I got that," chuckled Minervamon. "But… from what I've heard, from what you guys have told me and what you've talked about, what you're already doing is much more important than helping me with my problem."

"Yeah, but Koichi thinks that your important in whatever's going on. And if he says that it's important, then it's important. After all, he's a canon character, and he's used to working with this sort of thing."

"… … I still have no idea what that means. What's it mean to be a _canon character_?"

Now it was Ashley's turn to chuckle.

"Let's just say that it means that he's more real than I am."

"… … Oookay…"

"Trust me, it makes sense."

"Well, I'm glad that you think so," said Minervamon. "I wish that I could understand some of these things though, especially the relationship between those two in front of us," Minervamon indicated Guardromon and Hirokazu. Ashley raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"This whole _partner_ thing. I don't understand it. Well, there are a lot of things about you guys that I don't understand, like _Canon Characters_, _FanFic Domain_, _Authors,_ and all that stuff…"

"Well, I can help with some of that," said Ashley. "It's actually all related, though most of it is in an indirect manner. You see, quite a few years ago someone hit on the idea of creating a special kind of friendship between humans and non-human creatures. A lot of people came up with this idea but for now I'll stick with _digimon_. The idea behind it is that the two need each other in order to do good in the world, and that by going through the experiences that they do they grow and become better because of those experiences. They come to compliment and complete each other, and the bond that they share carries a strength in it that no enemy can break."

Minervamon was silent as she looked over at Hirokazu and Guardromon.

"I don't know," admitted Minervamon. "I don't see how those two could be partners. I don't see how this whole _partnership_ thing can give a digimon strength…"

"Well, when you care about someone else more than you care about yourself, you want to do anything to keep them safe. I guess it's something that you have to experience." Ashley gave a rather sheepish smile. "Something that I have to learn as well."

"Really?"

Ashley nodded, suddenly feeling as though she were ashamed of admitting it.

"I… I've been a rather stuck up character. I can't really blame myself actually; it was how I was made. It was the role that I was supposed to fill. I've become rather dissatisfied with it though." Ashley sweat dropped a little bit. Why did she feel as though she needed to defend herself?

Minervamon thought about this for a moment.

"I've got an idea," said Minervamon, though she wasn't sure why she thought this. "Why don't you and I become partners?"

Ashley blinked. "Huh?"

"Well, if what you're saying is true, then it's something that should be experienced first hand, and I'd like the opportunity to see what it's like. And you just said that you want to change so…"

"… … I know," said Ashley. "It's just… I don't think that it works like that. We'd need a digivice and they don't hand those out like cereal box prizes…"

"Oh," said Minervamon sadly, not knowing what a cereal box prize was, but understanding the concept. "So it's one of _those_ cases, huh?"

"Yeah. Stinks doesn't it?"

Minervamon nodded. "I don't suppose that we could just be friends though, right? To be honest, I've… never really had a friend before, and you've been rather nice to me and all…"

Suddenly Minervamon was knocked over as Ashley tackled her to the ground.

"Of course!" Ashley exclaimed happily. She was never one to dwell on the negative side of things for too long.

Minervamon made a face that could have been interpreted for incredulousness if not for the mask that she wore.

* * *

Koichi had been watching the scene with a smile on his face. 

"Well?" He asked Kuzuhamon who stood next to him, keeping a sharp eye on the shadows around them. "What do you think?"

"I'm neutral," said Kuzuhamon in Ruki's voice, which sounded rather deadpan.

"You can't be serious," said Koichi in surprise. A second later he smiled. "Oh, right. I forgot. You usually get uncomfortable in situations like this…"

Kuzuhamon swung her head around to look at the boy who held the spirits of Darkness.

"Just because you and I have been featured in a relationship in some fics does not mean that you know me."

"Sorry," said Koichi. "But I wasn't referring to that sort of thing. It was just how you've been portrayed in the show, that's all."

"Whatever," said Kuzuhamon shrugging it off.

"I still don't know about this. Are you sure that we can trust her?"

"Actually, I can't really vouch for her honesty," said Koichi. "Since we don't know her, we can't be sure about anything about her, but I do trust my instincts…"

'So you've stated," said Kuzuhamon sarcastically. Koichi ignored this comment.

"… And she _did_ save us, which gives me a good opinion of her."

"I don't know. I don't like it."

"You could look at it this way," said Koichi with a grin. "If she becomes friends with Ashley she'll be able to keep the girl out of trouble, and out of your hair."

Kuzuhamon thought about this for a second.

"Persuasive argument," said Kuzuhamon finally. "Now I remember why you're one of the few characters I don't mind working with, even if it's not often."

Koichi shrugged, not sure how he should respond to that. "So how much longer until we reach Forest Terminal?"

"Eleven episodes."

"Ha. Ha," said Koichi. "Didn't think that you'd sink to Guardromon's level of humor Ruki."

"You're treading on _very_ thin ice right now," growled Kuzuhamon. Koichi chuckled.

"I'll be back to relieve you in an hour," said the dark haired boy, feeling the sudden need to get away from the Mega level dark shaman.

"You do that," said Kuzuhamon, returning her gaze back to the shadows.

* * *

The night wore on, and Koichi took over for Kuzuhamon, followed afterwards by Hirokazu and Guardromon. As they stood guard, a shadow flitted across the night sky. By some miracle, or some trick that it knew, it was able to bypass Kuzuhamon's and Guardromon's senses (or in Guardromon's case, _sensors_) and floated over the sleeping form of Minervamon. Its eyes glowed with an eerie light. 

_Let's have some nightmares…_

Minervamon rolled over, groaning in discomfort.

* * *

_There was a tremendous light surrounding her. No, a thousand lights. Millions. Every one of them aimed right at her, and she could here a cackling voice. Minervamon screamed as the light that surrounded her suddenly came at her in one mad rush, stripping data off of her body until she was nothing more than free floating shards, rising into the sky above a tower and beneath her stood the battered forms of children and digimon alike… some of whom were… familiar._

_The laughter continued, and Minervamon felt betrayal rise like bitter bile in her heart._

* * *

Minervamon awoke with a start, feeling a lone tear crawling down her face as she wept. That dream that she had… it felt so real. It was almost as if it was… a memory? But… that couldn't be. Could it? 

The sound of Hirokazu's voice broke the silence of the night, and Guardromon's response to the boy caused anger to flare in her eyes. She didn't know why, but she felt as though the people around her threatened her in some way, or at least had been a threat in the past, and as such they still might be a threat now.

Why not get rid of the danger?

* * *

"RAAARRRRGH!" 

CRASH!

Kuzuhamon bolted awake and leapt into the air just in time to dodge Guardromon as he came sailing into the ground with a tremendous crash. A second later, there was a flash of light off in the distance and Loewemon burst into the camp, trident raised and ready for action.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" The hybrid bellowed. Kuzuhamon just shrugged as she looked over to where Guardromon had come from, and only saw Minervamon raising her massive sword casually.

"You hurt me," growled Minervamon. "You're _all _going to pay…"

Ashley got up, blinking her eyes blearily.

"What's going on?"

Minervamon's reply to the spoken question came in a burst of speed as she slashed at Loewemon, who jumped back in surprise.

"What the heck?!"

"You're going to pay…" Minervamon reiterated. Kuzuhamon leapt at the child sized Mega, raising her staff in preparation of an attack.

"I knew that you were too good to be true…" Kuzuhamon began, only to be cut off as Minervamon's hair grabbed the Mega shaman and threw her to the ground.

**"Madness Merry-Go-Round!"**

**"Shadow Lance!"** Shouted Loewemon as he thrust his trident at Minervamon, who just simply dodged the attack and swung with her blade.

**"Strike Roll!"** Minervamon slashed at Loewemon, who blocked the attack with his shield and took two quick steps back, the lion maw on his chest opening as he prepared to fire a low powered Shadow Meteor. He didn't know what had brought this sudden attack on, but he was certain that he didn't want to harm Minervamon any more than he should.

Too bad Minervamon didn't feel like that. Slashing outwards again, the flat of her blade caught Loewemon on the head hard, the impact throwing him to the ground and causing him to lose his grip on his lance. Minervamon raised her sword once more, its keen edge glinting in the moonlight.

"You're going to pay…"

**"Dragon Helix!"**

A dark fox spirit crashed into Minervamon, sending her to the ground with a cry, a cry that was matched by Ashley over by the remains of the campfire. Ruki narrowed her eyes from behind her fox mask, analyzing Minervamon's actions.

_I think that I remember something like this happening in the show,_ she thought. _When Tommie was possessed or something through his nightmares and made to attack his friends by… what was it? A Tapirmon? Only it was called a Bakumon for some reason. Sheesh, why the heck did the animators give it two separate names?_

Kuzuhamon was interrupted from her musings as Minervamon struggled back to her feet and prepared to charge at her. But before she could do that, Ashley stepped in front of her and pulled the little digimon into a hug, tears standing out in her eyes.

"What's going on?!" Ashley demanded, her voice cracking. "I thought that we were friends! WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING US?!"

Minervamon didn't know why, but for some reason the girl who now held her… Minervamon couldn't find it within herself to strike at her. Rage still boiled in her heart, but it was quickly melted away as Ashley's tears fell onto her bare shoulder. As Minervamon's vision, that had earlier been clouded with anger, cleared her fingers reflexively opened, dropping both her shield and sword, and rising up to return the hug, and soon Minervamon found herself crying with Ashley.

"A- Ashley!" Minervamon choked out. Ashley stroked the Mega's back, trying to calm her. She didn't know why she had done what she did, but it was the first thing that had come to her mind, and besides, it worked! Why argue with it, right?

Minervamon continued to speak.

"Ashley… I… I'm so… sorry. I… had… had a bad d-dream…"

"Shhh…" hushed Ashley. "It's okay… c'mon…"

Suddenly, there was a bright light above them, and the next thing that they knew a t-shaped digivice fell into their hands. A digivice created by the bond that the two shared in a world in which dreams had a way of coming true. In that moment, Minervamon had an idea as to what it was that Ashley had tried to explain to her earier.

Hirokazu watched the scene as he helped Guardromon back to his feet, and he just felt the need to remark on it.

"Typical. Why is it always the least experienced ones who get a Mega for a partner? The rest of us have to work at getting our partners that high, so how come she and Kenta get to cut corners?"

"Probably because they're more deserving of it," growled Kuzuhamon as she lowered her staff and relaxed from her battle stance. Hirokazu began sputtering all sorts of responses, and a short ways off, Loewemon chuckled lightly to himself as he got back to his feet, picking up his lance. Now all that they had to do was find out just what it was that caused Minervamon to freak out like that…

Loewemon's eyes suddenly widened as he felt a familiar presence approaching them.

_No…_ He thought, and a second later he shouted a warning to the others.

"EVERYONE! GET OUT OF THE WAY! HE'S HERE! CHERUBIMON IS HERE!!!"

**"Lightning Spear!"**

A powerful bolt of lightning tore towards the group, and those that could made to get out of the way, only to collapse to the ground a second later as they felt an intense pain rip through their bodies. Their forms became static as they phased in and out of existence, and then the lightning bolt hit.

* * *

Cherubimon grimaced when the smoke cleared, revealing that no one was in the ruins of the campsite, not even their fractal code, which was a little disturbing. He didn't care about the others, but he had hoped that Loewemon would at least have survived, if only so that he could bring him back to the side of the shadow and make him a true _Son of Darkness_. No such luck now. With a curse, Cherubimon turned and began to head back to his fortress. 

7


	35. Chapter 35

Disclaimer: What would it take for me to own Digimon? Probably more money then I could ever afford…

The Four Seasons: Chapter 34

Third Arc: The Author's Viewpoint

**The Coffee Break**

The dark figure hung above the website, it's demonic wings spread wide as it floated above the **member's page**, thinking about the events that had just recently occurred.

_This is bad. Worse then I, or the others, could possibly have foreseen. We should have waited, so that we could keep the OC's separate from the Canons. At least then we wouldn't have to worry as much. The only thing that we would have to deal with would be the System and that other fragment of data that's recently popped up in the Frontier season. Grrr… I told Neo III that we should have been patient. Even Blade of Cloud thought that we should have waited until we had a better shot. Why was he so impatient? There's something about the way Neo III has been acting lately that doesn't seem right. Of course, back during the Fable War he seemed a little unstable, but still._

_I don't think that I can trust him with this. He's liable enough to destroy the entire season if he goes in to try and fix it, especially since the characters are starting to remember things. If Blade of Cloud were here I'd have him settle the problem in season three so that I can focus on season one, but unfortunately he and Dean have… never mind. Neo III will find them. I have no doubt about that. If the system didn't keep acting weird I'd leave season three to it, but… things have gone too far for me to trust it. Especially since an author's Avatar is there. I can't **believe** that we missed him! Damn his dual nature as a character and an author! No sense complaining about it now though. Something has happened that even **he** didn't expect from that little trick of his. I'm not sure what it was that he was trying to do, fast-forwarding like that, but he's been stopped cold now, and he won't be able to try it again! Of course, even though he's been severely weakened he can still cause quite a lot of damage to the overall story line on his own, and with that kid with him who's connected with the script… I have to take them out, no matter what! They cannot be allowed to continue!_

The Avatar of Darkness looked at the website, its eyes narrowing. Flapping its wings the demonic entity dove towards the site, determined to make things right before his partners found their way out and decided to take matters into their own hands.

* * *

The author known as Dean coughed as he staggered to his feet and carefully pulled his aching body out of the crater that he had made upon making impact with the ground, via that invisible force known as gravity. Once he was clear he fell to his knees and breathed in the fresh, clean air of the digital world. Yes, he was certain that it was the digital world, after all, the site that he was in had data in it that was directly related to that particular television show, and he highly doubted that this was the sort of genre that the Public Broadcasting System would come up with anyway (unless they were _really_ desperate for funding that is). Besides, what else would have a group of unprotected Poyomon floating through the air, laughing up a storm as a calm, cool breeze blew across the grass of what was most likely the Frontier Season? Dean sighed in contentment. For some reason, he always associated the fourth season of Digimon with wide-open fields, clear blue skies, and soft, light colors. In a lot of ways, it kind of reminded him of home. 

Shaking his head, Dean reached out with his author senses, hoping to find some help, or at least some measure of life that was related to the characters that he had grown to know and love when it came to the TV show called Digimon. Hopefully, they could provide him with some answers. Dean frowned as he took a look around. Something was missing…

_Oh, right. Mike. Man, I can't believe that he's in on this whole thing. Heck, I never suspected him of being the Blade of Cloud. I don't think anyone did. I wonder why he's doing this. No one's seen him since the Battle of Odaiba during the Fable War. Hmmm…_

While Dean was musing, his highly accurate Author senses picked up what he was looking for, and he decided, for lack of finding Mike anywhere nearby, to go on ahead and meet them. It would take a while though. He could have cut the distance down by teleporting there, but for some reason he was feeling a little drained, and thought that it was best to conserve what energy that he had remaining.

_Probably has something to do with whatever it was that deleted my stories. I'm willing to bet that it was either Mike or the Lord of Fantasy. Heck, for all I know they might be in on it together. They did sort of work together back in the Fable War._

_Man, I hope that Sarah's all right…_

* * *

Somewhere a ways off behind Dean, in a cluster of trees, a samurai warrior with an obscenely large sword in one hand picked himself up from out of the pit that he had dug up upon crash landing. 

_Oookay…_ he thought. _I certainly wasn't expecting **that** to happen. Maybe I got a little carried away. Eh, whatever. I still have to find Dean and dispose of him before he finds a way to become a problem again. That whole fiasco with the Lord of Fantasy has proven just how much of a troublemaker he can be, and we are not going to lose everything that we've worked for because that moron has an overdeveloped since of morality!_

Reaching out with his own senses, the Avatar known as the Blade of Cloud spotted his allusive prey, and set off after him, his grip on his sword tightening as he took to the air, using his author abilities to grant himself the power of flight.

_We'll see just how well you fair when you no longer have your account or your stupid stories to back you up. Heh, heh, heh…_

* * *

Okay… we're up and running again. Finally," said Mark as he cracked his fingers and reconnected to the Internet. They had made two attempts at trying to restart, only to find that, thanks to a continuously transmitting virus program from Mike's computer that they _had_ (emphasis on the past tense) hooked up to Sarah's computer, the computer kept shutting down. The third, and successful attempt came about thanks to a combination of Ashley's amazing computer skills, which isolated the virus from the important software and program files. The drawback to this was that they had to sacrifice processing power. Fortunately, being that they had Mike's computer in the room with them, they would be able to access whatever files he had on his computer and work towards finding a way to return the characters to where they belonged. The FanFic Domain. 

At least, that was the basic idea behind it all. Mike however, had been smart and had deleted most of the important information, and anything that was left was protected by firewalls, usernames, and passwords that would take quite a bit of time to get past. And Mark didn't believe that they had the time for that sort of thing.

"I've been thinking that we should refocus our efforts," said the former Lord of Fantasy. "It's quite probable that we may not be able to get the characters out of the website that abducted them. And with Dean missing in action, we can't afford to wait. What little data that he was able to send us tells me that the site is heavily protected from all outside intrusions."

"Dean seemed to be able to get in easily enough," remarked Sarah.

"Yes, but take a look at this scan. It was taken at the exact moment that Dean hit the site. All of its security went up on red alert status, with a firewall that dwarfs the Great Wall of China, and ten times more affective."

"We could contact the authorities of the FanFic Domain, or the other authors and see if they can help. I'm sure that they'll want to; I mean after all, their stories have just gone on hiatus status with the characters missing. They _are_ fans of the show…"

"True, but these defenses were made especially with authors in mind. First off, it severs all connections with your account, leaving you either powerless or with a limited warranty. There was a surge of energy that went throughout that website earlier, right before Dean made contact with it. Massive amounts of energy, and you know just as well as I do that short of a program, that kind of power comes from an online user like an author. And it wasn't enough to cause any serious harm to the site. _If _that was the intention that is. I'm willing to bet though, that all the authors of the FanFic Domain couldn't break past that thing. It's possible that it may even have been designed by a Hacker as well, especially since whoever did this lifted the characters and a vast amount of information on digimon from the main server…"

"All right," said Sarah. "So what do you think we should do?"

Mark turned to Sarah.

"Do you remember my _D-Leter_ program?"

Sarah's eyes widened to disbelief.

"You _cannot_ be thinking about what I think you're thinking…"

"C'mon," Mark grinned. "You know that I know that you know that's precisely what I'm thinking."

"Very funny. I don't like it."

"But it's the only thing that we have that has sufficient strength to break down all those barriers! It has the power and you know it!"

"If that's true, then how come all the authors were able to beat it when you say that they won't be able to take down this one website?"

"I've… made some modifications to it."

Sarah blinked.

"You're telling me that you've got the program? Right now?"

"Well, most of it. There's still some information that's missing. As it is now I'll be able to make a small hole in the website's defenses, enabling temporary entrance and escape, but as soon as I find the remaining data that I need, I'll be able to destroy that entire domain…"

"No."

Now Mark blinked.

"What?"

"I don't think that you should do this. I remember what D-Leter did back at the FanFic Domain. I remember what you did to the characters. I can't believe that you want to unleash that… that… _monster_ on another domain zone."

"You want the characters to stay trapped there? You want Dean and Mike to stay trapped there?"

"Why the change of heart? You never explained that! You never explained why you're so willing to help us! This has to be more than just tracking down whoever stole Milleniummon's data after D-Leter blew him apart! So why?"

Mark narrowed his eyes.

"Just this. If I can't lay claim to the characters that I love, and shape their story and make it my own, then no one should have that right. We can write our stories, but we don't own the characters."

Sarah cocked an eyebrow.

"Oh. So you're finally deciding to follow the Copy Right Laws? Took you long enough!"

"Don't start up on that again. That's the argument that got the whole problem going…"

"Well, maybe if you stopped talking about _what you would have done if you owned Digimon…_"

"ENOUGH!" Mark slammed his hands down on the computer desk, his body shaking with rage.

"What's done is done," he said. "I'm willing to bury the hatchet if you are so that we can get the characters out of there. I still believe that D-Leter's the way to go. Like I said, in it's current form it won't be able to destroy the site, but it will create a hole in it. If you want you can check it over if you don't believe me. In the meantime, I believe that we should search for a viable _candidate_ to be our _ambassador_ to this site."

"Fine. So long as we run it by the Domain authorities or at least the Assembly of authors first. I want them to at least know what's going on so that they'll have an easier time cleaning up the mess in case things go south."

Mark nodded.

"I can live with that. I'm afraid though that I can't go with you. My account…"

"Did you forget about the _Dual Account_ that we shared once, back when we first started? We'll use that to get you in."

Mark groaned. "Not the stupid pink outfits… you know that I can't stand that look for an Avatar…"

"What do you take me for?" Said Sarah heatedly. "I've grown up since those days and I've made some modifications. You don't have to worry about appearance."

"I'm surprised that you even kept it."

"I'm a sentimental person. What can I say?"

"Hmmm… fine."

"All right!"

* * *

Digital-Dragon-Master stood on a small hill, looking at the domain zone that hung in the sky, and sighed in disappointment. As things were, most of the authors had now gone home due in part to the ever-demanding stress of every day life. School for the younger ones, work for the older. While Digital-Dragon-Master would normally be in school herself, it just so happened that she was able to convince her mother that she was feeling a little _under the weather_ today, and as such she was able to stay home and see what she could do to handle this disturbance. A few other authors stood with her, having scraped together the courage to stand with her and skip school or work along with her (actually, it turned out to not be that hard of a thing to do. At least for most of them), and now they were faced with the daunting task of trying to find a way to get into the domain zone, or destroy it. She wished that more had come. Technically there were more authors running around with the same intentions as her and those who stood with her, but unlike her companions those others had absolutely refused to work with those who either had opposite pairing preferences, or were renown for flaming. Digital-Dragon-Master didn't care about the preferences or the flamers (she had two of the latter in her group). She just needed Avatars who were willing to fight and cooperate until this business was over and done with. 

_But what're we going to do? By all accounts, this site is going to be tough to get through. We may not even have the strength necessary to break into it and rescue the characters. And who knows what other tricks that, whoever it is that pulled this off, has? We could be walking into a trap or something._

Digital-Dragon-Master's thoughts were interrupted when a web link flared into existence before her, and out appeared two author Avatars. One she recognized because of her furry feline form, gold fur and battle armor, while the other was…

Digital-Dragon-Master squinted her eyes. She didn't recognize this Avatar, but he did sort of resemble the actor who played Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings movies. Digi-Dragon shrugged her shoulders, and decided not to comment on it.

"So, GoldCat," said Digi-Dragon. "Come to join my posse? I'll be glad to have you, but who's your friend?"

GoldCat, otherwise known as Sarah if her profile was right, turned to her _friend_, who was currently grumbling about looking like a cliché hero.

"He's the one with an answer on the domain zone thing that's hanging in the sky. He's got an idea but we need to track down an old friend of his."

Digi-Dragon raised an eyebrow. "Really? I've never seen this Avatar before."

GoldCat chuckled. "You could say that he's _old_ and _new_ at the same time. Not that it matters though. You can address him as Arc22."

Digi-Dragon narrowed her eyes. "Isn't that you're old, dual account?"

GoldCat sighed. "Can we just move on to fixing this problem, already instead of playing _Twenty Questions_? He says that there's someone here that he needs, and he's got a program to go with him…"

"I'd like to see this program," said Digi-Dragon suspiciously. Arc22 shrugged, but he had something to say first.

"You'll see it soon enough. But first I want to find that friend of mine. Time is of the essence."

Digital-Dragon-Master was silent for a moment. She took a moment to look at her companions and weigh her options. A majority of them nodded their heads in agreement, indicating that they would go with whatever plan she had. Digi-Dragon had a thought run through her head, and she was interested to see where it would go. She did remember something about the Arc22 account, and all she needed was one final confirmation.

"Fine," she said. "Who do you need to see?"

Arc22 paused for dramatic tension.

"Black WarGreymon," he said finally.

* * *

A/N: Okay. Next up, the Fourth Arc of the story. I'm going to take some time to plan it out so bear with me here. Chances are, chapters will become longer (and as a result, take longer to write and post) and I'll probably be mixing the author's activities with the regular season stories as well (as they apply). I don't have a set amount of chapters that I want to spend on each season this time around, as I believe that I'll have a lot of ground to be covering, as each season will have it's own little quirks (particularly 2, 3, and 4, probably, and especially 4 as that season holds the key to the character's escape. I dare you to try and guess:D) that I'm dying to write. Heh, heh, heh. Later. 

-Crazyeight

7


	36. Chapter 36

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Keyo-Red Angel of Hope for being the 100th reviewer of this fic. Thanks for making it possible to break that triple-digit barrier. Now, ON WITH THE FIC!

Disclaimer: Thirty-five chapters of saying that I don't own Digimon. Why should this time be any different?

The Four Seasons: Chapter 35

Fourth Arc: Symphony of thirteen/01

**The Shadow's Divergence and Tai's Journey**: Part 1 

A soft, cool breeze played across her skin as Jane Dawn, the Raven, slowly began to awaken to the world. She felt exhausted in every sense of the word, and her entire body felt as though it were weighed down with lead. Breathing in the crisp, cool air, Jane sighed and slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry; she could barely see the outline of her hand that lay in front of her, or the boy, Reno, who was also on the ground nearby. Like her, Reno had experienced… whatever it was that had knocked them out at what may have been a crucial moment in a battle alongside the Digidestined. Jane closed her eyes again, and drifted for a bit, trying to sift through her memories so that she could remember just what the heck had happened to her and Reno. To start with, she had arrived in Shinjuku via the FanFic Express in the hopes of hooking up with Ryan and Chris and instead met Reno, a boy who, alongside his wolf-like partner named Dagmon, had fought alongside her two friends. Thinking that he would have an idea as to where they would be she approached him with some questions as to the whereabouts of her friends (and he had been a little rude on that front she thought). Shortly thereafter they were attacked by a strange, static entity that shot them and somehow transported them into the world of the Digimon TV show. While there they had met up with the Digidestined, who had somehow been transported there as well (presumably by the same creature that had attacked both her and Reno, though later they had found out that it was the cause of some bizarre weather phenomenon), and had discovered that the children were without their memories and that both she and Reno had severely altered the events that had been originally portrayed in the shows first episode by destroying the Kuwagamon that attacked them. This divergence had gone on with a quick trek down to the phone booths in a vain attempt to contact home while at the same time try and figure out a way to restore the Digidestined's memories. While the former didn't work out so well, the latter at least gained ground as Reno, who had conceived of the idea that by simply touching their (hers and Reno's that is) digivices their memories would be restored.

And what do you know? It worked. Someone say hallelujah.

From then on, after a brief fight with a Shellmon that enabled most of the other digimon to digivolve to their Rookie forms, and got Tentomon to digivolve to his Champion form of Kabuterimon. After that there was the question of getting the other kids digimon to digivolve to their Champion forms so that they would be at a decent power level to depart the island and head off to the continent of Server where they hoped to use the digi-ports there to get home. Not that any of them had an idea as to how to do that, but Izzy had claimed that he could try by using his computer in conjunction with one of the OC's digivices. And if that failed… well, there was always Gennai.

The last thing that Jane remembered, before ending up in the position that she was in now, involved showing up at the charred ruins of a Yokomon village, being attacked by two Monochromon and a Meramon, and watching Biyomon dark digivolve to Sabredramon…

Jane's eyes snapped open and she forced herself to her knees with a groan. Something was wrong. _Very_ wrong. Something had happened. Looking around Jane could make out the remains of the Yokomon village that they had been in when everything had gone to hell, but there was no one around. They were alone with their partner digimon, and it was night out.

_Just how long were we out?_ Wondered Jane when her digivice beeped and lit up. Taking it out, a halo circle displayed itself above the digivice's screen, showing stats that left the girl confused for a second.

**Digimon Adventure**

**Episode 13: "The Legend of the Digidestined"**

Jane's eyes widened in horror as the knowledge settled on her like a pile of wet carpets. Not wasting any time she managed to rouse Munimon and Dagmon. As she and Dagmon struggled to awaken Reno Jane took a quick look around, hearing a sound that could only be described as a mountain exploding.

_No…_ thought Jane. _I don't believe this is happening… It **can't **be!_

* * *

Minutes later, a large, dark feathered Rocmon soared through the air with Jane, Reno, and Dagmon on her back as they flew across the ocean, heading towards the central island that was the home of the mountain named Infinity, and was the lair of the dark virus Champion digimon known only as Devimon. Jane and Reno were tense. From everything that Jane had surmised, they had somehow been transported across time like the scene selection on a DVD player, and had ended up the thirteenth episode of the first season of Digimon. This was it; final battle with Devimon. Crunch time, ragnarok, doomsday… etc. Whatever noun or adjective you feel is appropriate to describe this situation will do just fine. The main worry that these two OC's had was that when they had _disappeared_, so to speak, things weren't going at all well. Only two digimon had digivolved to the Champion level, and one of them was going about it the wrong way. And now, if the very large shape of Devimon standing atop Infinity Mountain was any indication, they were about to go at it with neither Jane nor Reno knowing the condition of any of the characters. Heck, for all they knew TK's Tokomon was still stuck at the In-Training level, as he had been when they had gone on hiatus. 

Had they stopped to think about the nature of television shows and fictional writing, especially one that's centered on characters who were _meant_ to win, they probably would have stayed out of the fight so that it could continue on towards its destined conclusion.

But then, that would have been completely out of their character, so they just had to get involved and set off a sequence of events that may or may not have been all-together good.'

But I'll let you decide on that.

* * *

Tai watched in stunned horror as Devimon ripped open his mountain fortress with his vast size and upon spreading his wings, took to the air to confront the Digidestined. Absently, Tai heard Izzy saying something about how _bad guys always seemed to think bigger is better_. 

_What's the point of all this though?_ Wondered Tai as he watched Devimon descend towards a nearby forest close to the mountain. _I know that we'll win,_ Tai took a quick look at TK's Patamon, who had digivolved during the battle with the Monochromon and Meramon over ten episodes ago. _But even though we will, we'll just have to go through the same old song and dance again, with Gennai showing up to tell us that he needs us at Server to fight Etemon and Myotismon, yada, yada, yada. And then what? We go back to our old lives? Or do we continue on to the second season? It's so stupid. No matter what we do we'll still have no freedom over our own lives. It was authors that put us in this mess, and it doesn't seem like they're showing any sign of trying to get us out. And Jane and Reno… I wish I knew what happened to them. Heck, I'd settle for not having to go through all this again, only knowing everything that's going to happen. Knowing that I'll just have my heart ripped out of my chest again, just like last time. I must have been deluding myself to go along with all those authors when I became a part of the FanFic Domain. Sometimes I feel like I'm nothing more than a character that was described in that song by Aqua, Cartoon Heroes instead of a living being. Of course… that's just what I am anyway but still. I'm just here for other people's amusement and my own feelings don't matter. So… why bother?_

Tai's thoughts were interrupted as Devimon landed with an earth shaking crash, and instinctively an old line came to his mouth as that sense of self-preservation came into play.

"Uh… Agumon? You'd better digivolve!"

"Right," said the orange dinosaur with that same fear filled awe at the appearance of their enemy. The fact that he had faced scarier opponents than Devimon in the past notwithstanding (even though he was now technically _in_ the past), he could only digivolve to his Champion form of Greymon at the present, and they already knew that until Angemon made his appearance he and the others weren't really going to do much against this guy.

Tough luck, huh?

But before they could do anything, Devimon turned towards the group of children and digimon, a gust of wind caused by his movement slammed into them, forcing them against the wall of the mountain. A second later they were all pinned by a dark energy blast that was being emitted from Devimon's hand. Tai and the others waited as Devimon ranted on about how they were fools and how they shouldn't expect him to play silly games with them because he was _far too wise for that_. They were waiting for Sora and Joe to show up and start blasting at Devimon so that they could have the breather that they needed to get into action.

**"Harpoon Torpedo!"**

Right on time.

Ikkakumon's attack hit Devimon dead on, as expected, and was quickly followed up by Sabredramon's Black Saber attack, both stunning the demonic digimon long enough for Sora to come running up the mountain path, just as she had done before in the first season. So far, everything was going according to the script. At least, as it had been originally written. Since their memories were returned to them they had no clue how the story was supposed to unfold this time around, so they figured that until an author showed up to wipe their minds again, it was best to go with the old stand-by. Tai turned to Agumon and was about to order him to digivolve, just as he had done the last time he had gone through this.

He had gotten as far as "digi" before he was interrupted.

**"Corona Wing!"**

Before the children and digimon, bad guy included, could figure out what was happening, a giant, dark colored bird with blue flaming wings sent out streams of fire that impacted into Devimon, the heat burning data away despite his massive power increase from the Black Gears. With a growl Devimon turned to face his new opponent, just in time to see a glowing object leap off of the digimon and grow larger.

"DAGMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO… LUNASMON!"

A giant werewolf digimon with bat-like wings crashed onto Devimon, but due to his size Devimon didn't have a chance of getting knocked over. Not that it mattered though. Lunasmon gripped the devil's body with his claws and then sunk his teeth into it in short order.

**"Were Bite!"**

* * *

Before Devimon knew what was going on, a clouding sensation settled over his mind, blanking his thinking and draining his strength and willpower. Devimon struggled against this strange sensation, but knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it was useless. He might as well be trying to reason with a landslide or an avalanche. That is to say, useless. 

But then, a voice spoke to him from out of the shadows of his mind. It wasn't the voice of the strange, dark entity that had contacted him earlier. It was something else entirely, and there was something else behind it. Power.

_"I can help you,"_ spoke the voice. _"I can get you out of this if you like. Send you to those who are stronger than you, where your powers and experience might be of some use. The desert of the Dark Network…"_

Devimon paused for a moment, unsure of what he should do for perhaps the first time in his long, dark life. He was used to manipulating and destroying things, whether it was directly or from the shadows. And yet he was now running into dark and powerful forces left and right! He knew of the others that existed beyond the tiny confines of File Island. Etemon, Myotismon, the Dark Masters, and still others that were supposedly beyond them as well, but this one… he was more powerful than any of those entities that he was currently aware of or had met in his long life. Under normal circumstances, he would have questioned this being as to why he didn't handle the situation himself, but seeing that his own situation was currently faltering he decided to put his fate in this being's hands.

He almost felt the being smile as though it had sensed Devimon's decision, and the next thing he knew he was whisked away. To another place, and to another power.

* * *

Lunasmon gaped in surprise as Devimon's form suddenly disappeared. Deprived of the massive surface that had kept him from the ground that lay far, far below gravity took over and the werewolf fell. 

_This is going to hurt…_ Lunasmon commiserated as the ground came at him in one mad rush.

"FLY YOU FOOL!" Shouted the voice that could only belong to the werewolf's partner, Reno, and the light bulb clicked on upstairs.

_Oh, that's right. I **do** have wings, duh._

Flexing said limb, Lunasmon caught an air current and halted gravities claim on his person, and he soon soared up to the mountain to join the Digidestined.

* * *

The shadows of the night sky lifted, and a new day dawned over File Island as Rocmon landed and de-digivolved to Munnimon and dropped off Jane and Reno. The Digidestined turned towards them with surprise and happiness written on their faces. 

"Talk about timing!" Exclaimed Matt.

"I'll say," said Mimi. "I didn't break a nail this time."

At this, Jane just rolled her eyes. Izzy was the next to speak up.

"So what happened to you guys? I mean, I am glad to see you again," nods from the other children and digimon followed while nearby, Leomon looked on in confusion at the newcomers who had _saved the day_.

_Well, they did say something about two other children being in their group when they finally freed me from the power of the Black Gears,_ thought Leomon as he shrugged them off, settling for leaving the children to their own doings and headed off to find his rival, Ogremon. Izzy continued.

"… But I would like to know what happened to you guys back at the Yokomon village."

At the mention of the village, Biyomon and Sora had a dark look appear on their faces, but it was swiftly repressed. Jane and Reno took note of this but decided not to mention it for the time being.

"We have no idea," said Jane, speaking for the both of them. "All we know is that we woke up in the middle of the Yokomon village shortly before you guys got into your big battle with Devimon. And that's something else that's bugging me: what the heck _did_ happen to Devimon. I know that in the series he was deleted, but I don't recall him just disappearing into thin air like that."

"Yeah," said Dagmon. "There was no data dispersal."

"I couldn't even pull anything into my D-Comp," grumbled Reno, sounding a little cross.

No one had any answers. Tai looked out at the ocean, a grim expression set on his face as though it were stone. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was thinking about the journey across the ocean now. They had to deal with being swallowed by Whamon again, and the journey down to the undersea cavern that contained the tags, the battle with Drimogemon, and then the final sail all the way to Server where most likely they would have to battle Etemon once again and find their crests. But before any of that could take place…

A pile of rocks came apart, and a holographic emitter emerged from its remains. A light of rainbow colors emerged from it and formed the shape of an elderly man.

"…And here's the kindly, wise, old elf character who's supposed to help out the characters of a story," said Jane sarcastically. Reno raised an eyebrow at her. "How's it going, Gennai?"

For the first time, since the Digidestined had known the old man who had been their guide throughout their adventures in the digital world, Gennai looked baffled.

* * *

**"Pepper Breath!"**

A mighty Pine tree crashed to the ground as Agumon's fiery breath tore through its trunk. Shortly afterwards, Gabumon let loose his Blue Blaster, and another one joined it. Reno stood next to Izzy while Dagmon used his Shadow Blaze attack to fell another tree. Izzy was lamenting about how long it would take them to build a raft in order for them to get to Server.

"C'mon Izzy," said Reno. "You should already know that the island's digimon are only a few minutes away from that line you said from joining us and lending a helping hand."

"I know," said Izzy. "That's why I said it."

"Oh," said Reno. "So anyway. There's one thing that's been bothering me…"

"That whole incident back at the Yokomon village?"

"Well, that too," Reno admitted. "But there's something else that currently tops my list. Given that the site we're in is based loosely on a fan fiction format, how is it that the writers haven't paused the story or anything so that they can go back and do some major editing? You'd think that after Jane and I showed up, there would have been a greater effort to do something like that."

"Hmmm… yes, well, I thought that too when you and Jane disappeared. But then I realized that our memories stayed with us and the scene didn't change. Biyomon maintained her digivolution as Saberdramon and Tai has remained in his depressed state that he's been in since before this whole thing got started. Logically I would assume that someone or something wants us to continue as we are. I can't help but wonder if it has something to do with the presence of OC's. I mean, during the Fable War your guy's presence kept the Lord of Fantasy from assuming total control over our characters so it makes sense to think the same thing in this case."

"I suppose… yeah, I guess that makes sense. And then there's my 'disappearing act'. I thought that I was being deleted or something, but instead I show back up in the exact same place that I left, which I find just a tad bit disturbing. Well, not entirely because I was still alive, but I felt horribly exhausted, you know? And I'm still feeling the effects of whatever it was that happened to me, and Jane's hardly any better though she refuses to admit it."

Izzy nodded. "In a lot of ways, she kind of reminds me of Tai, only she's more likely to think than he is."

Reno grinned. "Yeah. I'm still laughing over her conversation with Gennai. I'm sure that had to be _the_ last thing that digital guardian expected."

"No argument here."

The two boys laughed at the memory from yesterday. After Gennai had appeared to give the Digidestined the familiar speech about how they should come and defeat the enemies of Server, complete with vague clues as to the nature of his identity, Jane had basically interrupted him by summing up his entire speech in a nutshell. It was one of the rare moments that Gennai's eyes had ever opened up as an old man. And the surprise didn't end there either as some of the other Digidestined chipped in their two cents as well.

Reno was beginning to think that the old geezer was feeling just a _little_ bit perturbed that the Digidestined knew about him and what he wanted from them before he even had a chance to say anything. Reno had a feeling that, until they restored his memories like they did the original Digidestined, it wouldn't be the last time that he was disturbed in such a manner.

"Well, if nothing else, we should be grateful that Gennai downloaded the map to Server into your laptop. I'd hate to have to rely on another one of Tai's maps just to get around."

"Actually…" said Izzy. "Jane told me once that she has a complete map of the digital world stored on her digivice so chances are we won't even need that map."

"Eh? What? She _has a map_? Since when?"

"Since she had Tai draw her the map after he came back from that _Robinson Kamiya_ fic about a month before the Fable War. It looks like just scribbles to me, but for some reason she can read it just fine. She was even able to name the longitude and latitude of all the major continents and islands from off that map, and even included the different time zones as well as step-by-step directions to Digitamamon's Diner. Quite impressive actually. I don't know how she does it, but she does it. It certainly makes me feel confident going by her directions."

Reno shivered. "We are _so_ going to die…"

Before Izzy could even ask what it was that Reno was talking about the sound of giant feet hitting the ground came to them. Turning they saw the massive form of Leomon walking towards them.

"Leomon," said Izzy with a smile on his face.

"Heard the gossip, huh? Figures. The only thing that travels faster than the speed of light is gossiping digimon. No doubt Etemon knows that we're building a raft by now."

"I don't know about any Etemon," said Leomon. "But I did come here with a few friends to help you on your way to Server."

Reno took a look behind the lion digimon, taking note of the swarm of digimon, most of them Yokomon, that were coming up behind him.

"By what stretch of the imagination is that a _few_ friends?" Asked Reno with a grin. Leomon chuckled.

* * *

Jane found Tai standing at the edge of the beach, looking out over the ocean with a blank look on his face. 

"Tai?"

The goggle-wearing boy turned to her.

"Hey, Raven," he said before returning his gaze back to the horizon.

"All right. What's eating you?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I watched the TV show, Tai. Something's bothering you, and it looks like your feeling sorry for yourself. I'm not the only one who's noticed it either. The other Digidestined have picked up on it. Matt, Izzy, Joe, Sora…" Jane stopped with the names when she saw Tai tense up at the mention of Sora's name.

"I see," she said.

"See what?"

"Tai… you've got to get over this. I know that what happened to you during the Fable War wasn't a very fun experience…"

"No," Tai interrupted. "You don't know. You weren't there when it happened."

"All right. So I wasn't there. Big deal. The point that I'm trying to make is, you're letting it continue to affect you…"

"Because I was manipulated by someone that I thought that I could _trust_!" Exclaimed Tai angrily. "Do you know what that's like?! To think that you can trust someone and then have that trust ripped away from you?"

"No," said Jane. "I can't say that I have."

"Then stay out of my problems, Raven," said Tai bitterly.

Jane glowered at the leader of the Digidestined. _He just has to make things difficult doesn't he?_

"That raft is going to be ready soon, if I'm any judge of animation when it's in a confined time space. Whether you're over this _funk_ of yours or not, you're going to be on it when we set sail, even if I have to knock you unconscious and tie you to the mast. We have places we have to be, and we don't have time for personal problems right now. _Got it?_"

Tai didn't answer Jane, and the girl just turned and left. She knew he would come, just as he knew that if he refused, she would live up to her threat. It was in their character. Tai to continue onwards even when he was hurting, and Jane to be forceful and direct in her opinions when she had to be. That was how they were written, and nothing short of a major editing could change that.

* * *

The raft hit the water with the digimon on it, and the kids joined them within seconds, everyone climbing aboard and waving goodbye as they slowly began to distance themselves from the island. On the shore, the digimon that they had fought and fought alongside with raised their arms in one final salute to the brave children who were about to set off into the vast unknown, even if it wasn't really unknown to them. They knew what was coming, and this time they were heading towards it with open eyes and hearts full of confidence. 

_So we sailed away from File Island, where we had some really cool adventures (even though not all of us were a part of them). I remember Tai saying once about how when they were forced to survive on their own they had to grow up very fast. Well, except for Joe. He just threw up very fast, now just as he did the first time around. Lol, right? But of course, even he came around in the end, as always. This time, we know what's waiting for us on the other side of the ocean, and even in between, but no matter what, in the words of the famous Tai Kamiya…_

"We'll face it as a team!"

The Digidestined all looked at Reno as if he had just lost his mind.

"What was with the narrating?" Asked Sora, a little perplexed.

"Reno just has a little flare for drama," said Dagmon with a sniff. "Don't worry about it."

"Oookay…"

"You guys just have no sense of adventure," said Reno shaking his head.

* * *

Time came and went slowly as the little raft crawled across the ocean, the waves rocking the vessel and bringing out a number of complaints from the children. Some of them were a bit on edge. They knew what was coming, but the waiting was terrible. 

"I wonder how much longer it will be until Whamon shows up," wondered Joe.

"Chill out, Joe," said Tai. "We just left! Give him time."

"Yeah, but the salt air is killing my sinuses, and we only have enough food for two weeks."

"Jeez, Joe. In case you forgot this raft doesn't even last us one day. Relax already."

"How can I relax? Whamon's going to be attacking us soon, my clothes are going to get wet and we're going to wind up getting swallowed and nearly digested."

"Man Joe, you complain more than… hmmm… never mind. I can't think of anyone who complains more than you. Except maybe Kenta."

"Ouch."

As the kids joked around a wave rose up in the ocean and surged towards them, almost knocking over their raft. The mood suddenly became serious.

"O-okay…" said Tai a little nervously. "Crunch time folks!"

The massive form of Whamon rose out of the water before sinking back beneath the waves, swimming beneath them. Once his form passed by them his tail emerged and splashed down with ferocious force, nearly upsetting the vessel once again.

"HEADS UP!" Shouted Tai as Whamon leapt out of the water once again before diving right back into it.

"Oooh… can't we just skip the preliminaries and just get down to business already?" Whined Tentomon.

"Never thought that you'd be so eager to get into danger, Tentomon," said Izzy.

"Only when I know it's coming and I can't avoid it!"

"Come on, come on…" whispered Tai underneath his breath. Finally, Whamon emerged once more, his mouth opening up and water began to get sucked into it. The Digidestined's raft being part of the package. Screaming, the children held on for dear life as they went into the huge, gaping maw. As the jaws closed, cutting the children off from the daylight, Sora turned to Izzy, shouting to be heard over the sound of rushing water.

"This time you don't have to tell me that it's the esophagus that leads to the stomach, but I still hope that we don't give him a sore throat!"

Izzy just nodded.

Eventually the raft came out of the end of the tunnel, emerging into what had to be the stomach where soon the digestive juices would be unleashed to dissolve their little vessel.

"You know," said Reno. "It bugs me that there's actually light down here…"

None of the other children gave a response as they immediately began looking around for the Black Gear that they knew had to be there. Jane quickly spotted it.

"There!" She exclaimed. "Palmon, you know what to do!"

The plant digimon nodded as she whipped out her arm, the vines that made up her fingers shooting out and wrapped around the gear that was imbedded in the stomach wall.

_That's going to give him serious stomach related problems later,_ thought Jane.

On the sides of the stomach wall, red lights winked to life and acid began to seep into the water. Jane turned to Tai.

"Okay Kamiya," she said. "This is your spotlight now."

Tai looked like he was about to argue, but then remembered that this was what he had done before, what he was _meant_ to do, even though he was beginning to have doubts about the validity of the whole thing. Grimacing, Tai grabbed hold of Palmon's vines and climbed up to the Black Gear, exposing it to his digivice. Light shone out from its screen and the Black Gear shattered, releasing Palmon's vines and causing Tai to tumble downwards. Of course, just like last time, he landed on the raft, feet first and none the worse for wear.

"Okay, I destroyed it," said Tai.

Suddenly there was a bright light being emitted from the stomach, and then the raft began to defy gravity. Screaming once again the children was forced out of Whamon's stomach and was dumped (vomited) rather unceremoniously back out into the ocean, their raft in pieces, but serving as driftwood for the group of children and digimon. Whamon swam closer to them.

_Well,_ thought Tai a little sullenly, but happy nonetheless to be alive still. _Here we go again…_

* * *

A few hours later, after Whamon volunteered to be their replacement for their shattered raft, and after a brief bout with Drimogemon and recovering the tags, the digidestined were on the road… er… ocean again. They faced the horizon, many of them with a hopeful look on their face as they went down memory lane once more, while others had a grim look on their face, anticipating the dangers that they were to face once again, and wondering if it was all really worth it, just to get back to the FanFic Domain. 

These thoughts were especially prevalent in Tai Kamiya, but try as he might, he knew that he would prefer the FanFic Domain to this cheap, copycat version of the website that he had been calling home since his part in the Digimon franchise ended. Gripping his tag in his hand, Tai swore that he'd bring trouble down on whoever it was that orchestrated this whole thing. No matter what the cost.

And out there, back in a version of the real world, his little sister Kari was waiting for them. He had to rescue her too. Even if he was no longer sure of himself, he could at least take up the mantle of Digidestined again. Jane was right; this wasn't the time for personal problems right now.

_I'm coming,_ thought Tai. _First Etemon, then Kari. And then we find out whoever it was that was responsible for all this and make them pay._

Whamon swam towards the sunset with his passengers as they thought about the future, and what it held for them.

12


	37. Chapter 37

Disclaimer: By the light that is the Copyright Law, I must say _I don't own Digimon_! Can someone give me a _Disclaim-er? _Oh- ye-es!

The Four Seasons: Chapter 36

Fourth Arc: Symphony of thirteen/01

**The Shadow's Divergence and Tai's Journey**: Part 2

A giant cylinder sped across the vast desert of the continent of Server, its speed limited only to that of the Monochromon that it was lashed to. To an outsider, such as a human who wasn't used to the oddities of the digital world, this would have cause for curiousity, and perhaps even alarm while those who were used to the digital world's strangeness but not of its politics would only give it a passing glance. For those that did know of the politics of the continent of Server however, they would have made sure to try and stay hidden or at least become less noticeable in this forsaken wasteland. After all, this unique vehicle of transportation belonged to a great and terrible overlord that reigned over Server; one of the great _enemies_ that the digital guardian Gennai had referred to (however vaguely), and as such he was justly feared for his power.

Suddenly with a screeching sound, the Monochromon came to a stop as it encountered an obstruction.

Actually, an obstruction didn't quite describe what stood in front of the Monochromon. Not exactly. Space warped and twisted in such a way that made it certain that it wasn't just the heat that shimmered upon the air. The sand that made up the land slowly rotated as though it were the center of a dimensional vortex, and an eerie darkness spilled forth from within the center of the strange occurrence. Fear pervaded the air around it, and even the light from the sun seemed to darken in its presence.

With a hiss, the side of the cylinder began to open up, revealing its hidden interior, and its one and only occupant who had been blissfully enjoying the air-conditioned coolness that was his trailer. A bare, orange colored foot descended onto the sun-heated sand. A low, but audible growl emanated from within the creatures throat, and light reflected off his sunglasses as he fingers curled into one, massive fist, veins popping and bulging upon its surface. All Server, from the highest to the lowest, from all corners of this vast, sandy beach right up to the land of the vampire, bent knee to this being of power, whose name had caused many to tremble in fear down the years; his form having taken on the stuff of nightmares…

A monkey.

…

…

Hold on a minute here. A monkey?!

Well, an ape to be more specific. All large, vaguely human with stitches in various places on his body, presumably from battle scars (or maybe he just likes how they look. I don't know), with a Monzaemon beanie strapped to his waist. A pair of sunglasses adorned his face, and a look of irritation was hidden behind them. In one hand he held a microphone, which was but one of his many and varied means of waging battle upon an enemy, and when he spoke, his voice took on a sound remarkably similar to that famous human singer known as Elvis. In fact, you could say that this lord of Server, known as Etemon, was more than just a _passing fan_ of that long dead celebrity, and had incorporated _the King_ into his appearance and personality.

Yes. Quite the earth-shaking denizen of evil if ever there was one.

Well, don't let his appearance fool you. As with anything in the digital world, anything that moves is potentially dangerous. Of course, being the digital world, the same thing applies for anything that _doesn't_ move either, but Etemon was more so. He is an Ultimate level digimon of the virus type, fully evolved and, most importantly (and has been stated before), he is the overlord of this section of the continent of Server. He is not to be taken lightly, no matter how ridiculous he might look.

"Now what's the holdup?" Demanded Etemon hotly as he took a step forward, eyeing first the Monochromon and then the spatial warp in the sand.

"Ahhh… so _this_ is what my Dark Network picked up, huh? Well baby, I think it's time that y'all introduced yourselves. It's not polite to barge in on someone's home without so much as knocking, ya get what I mean?"

Although Etemon had been joking around when he said all that, a voice spoke from within the warp nonetheless, catching the monkey by surprise.

_"Heh, heh, heh… sorry, but these are desperate times Lord of the Song… we couldn't waste time with knocking when we didn't know how long it would take for you to answer. The Digidestined are coming, and there's no time to waste…"_

Etemon blinked behind his dark shades.

"Well, I gotta say that this was the _last _thing that I expected. Uh-huh. C'mon out and show yourself!"

The spatial warp receded, drawing the darkness in after it until it coalesced into two separate beings. One was easily recognizable as a Devimon, though why it was all the way out here, in _Etemon's_ kingdom was beyond him. The other was a rather small, thin figure, dressed in rags and loose fitting clothing that concealed his face. A deep darkness lay behind the rags of his face, and the only light that broke its hold was that of twin crimson eyes. When he spoke, he sounded like a child, but his voice was had all the emotion of a graveyard.

"Greetings Ruler of the Never-Ending-Song, _King_ of the Digimon, and Master of the desert of Server. I bring you news that the Digidestined should be arriving here shortly, just outside of the Koromon village."

"I already _know_ that they're on their way!" Exclaimed Etemon angrily. "What I want to know is who you are and what makes you think that you can just waltz in here like you own the place?"

"Because," spoke the child sounding being. "I know that without Devimon's help you won't be able to beat them. They're here for the crests, and if they find them you'll be destroyed. You could say that I've _seen_ it happen…"

"Shut up," said Etemon. "There's no way that a bunch of snot nosed brats are going to be able to defeat me!"

The dark child shrugged. "Fine. Once they're done with you I can go see Myotismon. I'm sure that the Vampire Lord will be more than willing to hear my case. After all, I hear that he's got his own agenda set in motion. You'll just be one less overlord in his way…"

Etemon twitched at this.

"Now hold on there, sonny! I never said that I wasn't interested…"

"Good. You've made the right choice. Now, my esteemed _colleague_ here has learned of a powerful secret that few digimon even know about. This secret of his will be able to give you the power to defeat the Digidestined before they can even find their crests! Care for a demonstration?"

Etemon debated this for a moment. This kid knew far too much then was for his own good. His timing and appearance was too good to be a coincidence, but for some reason he didn't feel like arguing with him. It was almost as if he had some kind of power that made him more… _susceptible _to his suggestions. Something was wrong about this. Very wrong.

Or maybe he should stop thinking about it and go with the flow. After all, if what he said was true, then maybe the Digidestined were capable of defeating him. If that were the case, then he'd need any advantage he could get. Etemon nodded.

Suddenly, the vortex that had disappeared earlier reformed in the air in front of him, and six dark colored, gear shaped objects shot out of it, imbedding themselves in Etemon's body. Screaming in pain, Etemon fell to his knees as his skin took on a distinctly darker coloring and his body grew in size. When the transformation ceased, Etemon got back to his feet. There was an eerie red glow behind his sunglasses. The dark child nodded.

"Those Black Gears will increase your power exponentially, beyond your previous levels. This will enable you to destroy the Digidestined before they can complete their destiny. Devimon will remain here to provide you with any further assistance that you might require."

And with that said, the dark child disappeared into the dark vortex. Devimon and Etemon exchanged glances.

"Well then," said Etemon as he leapt towards his trailer. His voice had a darker, more sinister sound to it than earlier. "C'mon! Let's get this show on the road! If the Digidestined are going to be showing up at the Koromon village then I want to be there to greet 'em!"

Devimon floated to the top of Etemon's trailer while the Monochromon looked on nervously. Within seconds, the trailer was moving once again.

* * *

_What fools,_ thought the dark child as he watched Etemon and Devimon take off. _They have no idea that I can manipulate them through the use of the scripts that they are bound by. Being only minor characters of a higher grade I have limited control over the decisions that they make, but they are simple enough that I can determine their movements. The Devimon though is going to prove to be more difficult to control. He may not have appeared in as many episodes as Etemon, but he's craftier. Wiser. Etemon can be easily controlled through ego stroking. Not that it matters. Devimon has pledged his service to me, for however long that might be, and soon I will claim the character information of the Digidestined for myself, and recreate their story as it should be. I must really thank Milleniummon for bringing me back, even if it was unintentional. But that's what you get for being a disturbance to the time-space continuum._

_And then… I will have my revenge on the trinity for betraying me; on the FanFic Domain for casting me out; and on those OC's who disrupted my plans in the first place. After that, I will construct my own website, and then remake the world of Digimon to the way it should be. As it was meant to be…_

A dark wind swept across the landscape, and a laughter was carried along it.

* * *

Whamon lay in the water, nearby a Cliffside that belonged to the continent of Server. Most of the Digidestined had already departed from Whamon's back and gratefully put their feet on dry ground. Soon they would be on the move to locate the crests, battle Etemon again, deal with the Koromon village problem and move on relatively unmolested once Tai used his crest to make Agumon digivolve to Ultimate. There was however one small snag to this plan. One that was currently delaying the group from thanking Whamon and going on their merry way. 

"Come on, Mimi!" Called out Sora. "Do we _have _to go through this _again_? You know that Whamon is just going to dump you off himself if you don't hurry!"

"Yeah, Mimi!" Chipped in Joe. "Come on already! It's not that hard, it's as easy as falling off a log! Just put one foot in front of the other, and gravity will take care of the rest!"

"That sounds a little too extreme sports for me," said Mimi. "I've fallen off of plenty of logs before…"

"Yeah, we know," said Reno. "But we're not airlifting you! Now get down here!"

"Oooh…"

"Sorry," said Izzy. "But we just can't move the continent for you, Mimi. Now, according to Jane's map this is the best beach to come ashore."

"Do we really need to keep recycling all the old lines?" Asked Dagmon.

"Certainly seems that way," said Reno.

Suddenly, as though he had gotten tired of the whole converation, Whamon decided to take the initiative. Heaving his massive bulk upwards, Whamon managed to upset Mimi's balance to the point where she toppled off the giant digimon, and fell towards the group of children, and landing right on Izzy.

Mimi lay on top of the computer genius, her face blushing. After a moment the pink colored girl smiled and playfully tapped his nose with one gloved finger, causing Izzy to blush as well.

"I guess you remember the scene that's coming up soon, huh?" Asked Mimi.

"Uhhh…" Izzy's blush deepened visibly and Mimi leaned in to give the boy a quick kiss on the lips. Around them, the other Digidestined sighed and shifted uncomfortably.

"Sheesh. Remember, you're only kids at this point in time. Try to keep this at an 'under thirteen' rating will ya?" Asked Reno. Next to him, Dagmon snickered.

Mimi just ignored that comment and got up, helping Izzy get to his feet at the same time. Tai looked at the pair.

"We're not having a repeat of the last time we went through this episode, alright? Remember that this time we know that the Pagumon are in control of the village, so we have to rescue the Koromon. And let's not forget that we have to retrieve my crest as well so that when Etemon shows up we can cream him."

Izzy tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Yes, about that. Although it would be nice to not have to deal with Etemon on a regular basis, shouldn't we still keep him alive so that we can use the spatial warp that he creates in episode twenty? We may be able to use it to find us a way home."

"It would be a better solution," said Reno. "Izzy's been working on a program that can be used in conjunction with our digivices so we may be able to get out of here."

"Yeah, but there's no guarantee that we'll wind up back at the FanFic Domain or in the middle of Internet space," said Izzy. "If we could just find Gennai and restore his memories like you guys did with us he can help."

"Oh, come on!" Exclaimed Tai. "We should be focusing more on what's in front of us right now…"

"Sorry to interrupt you kids," said Whamon. "But I'll be on my merry way now. Good luck finding the crests!"

The children waved good-bye to the whale digimon before returning to their conversation.

"What do you mean Tai?" Asked Joe. "About focusing on what's in front of us?"

"Look. I don't want to have to jump through all the same hoops as last time just to get home. Etemon's going to be coming after us, and it's a sure bet that things are going to be different this time around. Remember how events changed when Jane and Reno showed up? And then there's the fact that Devimon wasn't destroyed, so we don't know what happened to him. I'd rather not take any chances with that guy. You all know how crazy he is!"

"He does have a point," said Sora.

"Yeah," said Matt. "But if Izzy's confident that he can get us home with just a computer and our digivices…"

"Which I'm not," said Izzy. "Internet space is a tricky thing, and I'm sure that this site has lots of defenses built into it. If I could just find a way to hack into the main server and not be detected, and believe me, I've tried, then I'd be confident that I'd get us home in one piece."

The other children nodded. Jane and Reno included. During the journey to Server they had heard about the Digidestined's adventures. The episode involving Andromon being the one where Izzy had tried to find a way into the websites main server and got detected. He was lucky that all it did was kick him out at the time, as they had no idea what sort of protection that their new website had built into it.

"Ohhh… I'm sure that you'll find a way, Izzy," said Mimi happily. "Besides, we still have to rescue Tai's sister anyway, so work your magic honey! YAAY!"

Massive sweatdrops all around.

Tai's face became grim set.

"Did you have to remind him of that?" Asked Sora.

"Oops. Sorry."

"No," said Tai. "It's okay. It's been on my mind a lot lately. Maybe we should let Etemon live so that we can use that portal. At the very least we know that it will deposit us in Odaiba back in the real world, so we can work from there where we won't have to worry as much about digimon attacks. And then there's the portal in Highton View Terrace that we can use…"

"Yeah, but can we really leave the digimon here to take on all the evil that's here?" Asked Joe.

"Joe," said Matt. "In case you forgot, Myotismon ends up heading to the real world anyway, and we followed him there. There was nothing that we could do about the Dark Masters anyway, and besides we're no longer in the show. Our first priority is to get back home. To the FanFic Domain."

"I know, but I just can't help but wonder if our family is back in the real world, and if they are, are they the ones that came from the FanFic Domain? Do we just leave them here?"

That thought was actually one that none of the Digidestined had thought of, and the mood became rather sullen. Jane decided to break it and return their thoughts to the present.

"One thing at a time here, everyone. Like Matt said. Our first priority is to get back to the FanFic Domain so that we can get in touch with the network authorities and the authors, so that they can do something about the situation. I'm sure that everything will be solved once we get back."

TK looked up at Jane and Tai.

"We'll be able to rescue Kari, right?"

"Of course we will," said Jane confidently, and Tai and Reno both nodded.

The other children nodded as well, and with Tai, Reno, and Jane in the lead, the group of children began walking in the direction of the Koromon village, following the map that was currently being displayed above the screen of Jane's digivice. Reno shook his head.

"Tai, all I can say is that you'll never get a prize for map making."

"I can read it just fine," said Tai.

"Me too," said Jane with a small, secretive smile on her face. "Just go with it. Trust me, we'll find the cave where the Koromon are located."

Reno just sighed.

* * *

Some time later, the group stood in front of the waterfall that held the captive Koromon. 

"Okay," said Reno. "I don't know how you do it, but you can actually read Tai's maps. Man, I gotta say, that's really freaky."

"What's so weird about being able to read Tai's maps? It's not that hard."

"Sure. Rub it in why don't ya?"

"Save your argument for later," said Tai. "Let's get a move on."

The children cautiously made their way towards the waterfall, making sure to keep an eye out for any Gazimon who might be in the area. At present, there were none to be seen. If any were around, they probably didn't want to get into a fight with a large group of digimon and humans. If that were the case, it was a wise choice, but the children were expecting a trap.

Tai went in first, and found that all the Koromon were still where they were the last time he had been in this episode.

"All right," said Tai as he and Agumon ran towards the cages. "Don't worry. We'll have you out in no time at all. C'mon guys! It's all right!"

As the other children began to pour into the cave to help out, the Koromon began to pour out their story about how a group of Pagumon had entered their village and taken it over, locking them in the cages. The children tried to reassure them that everything was going to be all right.

And that was when a familiar laugh reached their ears.

"MYAH! HA! HA! HA!"

"It's Etemon!"

See?

"Is that Etemon?" Asked Reno, his eyes narrowing. "He sounds different."

"It's him," said Palmon. "There's no mistaking that laugh, but you're right. He does sound different. That, and he's early. We first encountered him the day _after_ we arrived in Server."

"Sounds like someone gave him a heads up," growled Reno as he raised the arm that held his D-Comp.

"Let's check it out," said Matt, and both he and Tai ran to the cave entrance and peered past the water.

Both of them gasped as they saw the last thing that they expected.

It was Etemon all right, but he looked different. His muscular structure was reminiscent of when he had gotten sucked into his own Dark Network in episode twenty courtesy of Datamon's virus, and his coloring was gray and black instead of the orange, white, and tan that was his usual appearance. That and there was a strange red glow hidden behind his sunglasses.

"What the…?" Said Matt in shock. Tai couldn't help but feel the same shock settle in as well.

"That's… _Etemon?"_ The Digidestined of Courage breathed.

"He's been taking steroids," Matt finished up.

"Hey there y'all," said the new version of Etemon. "I met up with an old friend of yours from File Island, who I'm sure that you all know. He's told me a _lot_ about you that's for sure and he's pretty big on seeing you destroyed, just like I am. Now I know that you're looking for crests, but I have to say that I can't allow that, and neither can he. But just in case you have any other tricks up your sleeves Devimon here has powered me up with those interesting Black Gears of his, so you can bet that whatever you were expecting from me before ain't going to happen. So tell me, what do you think about my look? I don't normally like black but I think that I just might make an exception in this case."

"Devimon…" whispered Matt before turning to Tai. "We've got to get the crest of Courage. NOW!"

"I second that motion," said Tai and the two ran back into the cave just as soon as Etemon activated his attack.

**"Dark Network, Concert Crush!"**

Black electricity tore through the landscape, wrecking havoc with the former Koromon village, and causing its new residents to panic as the world came apart around them. If Etemon knew that they were there, he didn't care as he continued his number one hit, dubbed _Wrecking the Whole Place_!

Not available in any stores.

* * *

The Digidestined and the Koromon ran further into the cave and Tai removed his tag from his shirt. As soon as they reached the cavern containing the crest that he needed, his tag reacted and a section of the wall shrunk, revealing in its place an exit miles away from their current location. 

"All right," said Joe, recapping the same line that he used last time as Tai's crest found its way to his tag and inserted itself into its place. "Frequent flyer miles!"

"Sorry about your homes," said Matt to the Koromon. "But I don't think that you'll be wanting to go back there any time soon."

"That's okay," said one of the Koromon. "We were thinking about redecorating. Besides, life hasn't been easy for us since Etemon came to power."

Tai stared at his crest with a determined look on his face, not really listening to the conversation that was going on. Agumon looked at him worriedly.

"Tai?" Asked the little orange dinosaur.

Tai looked at the others.

"You guys go on ahead," said Tai. "Me and Etemon have some unfinished business to attend to."

The Digidestined looked at Tai incredulously.

"Are you crazy?" Asked Sora. "I thought that we were going to let him go so that we could use the portal that he makes to get back to the real world!"

"Well, this is Tai we're talking about," piped in Mimi, but no one paid any attention to her.

"Yeah," said Matt. "And in case you didn't notice, he's also got a complete makeover courtesy of Devimon. We don't know how strong he is now…"

"Devimon?" Gasped TK in surprise.

"Later TK."

"That's _precisely_ the reason why I'm going out there," said Tai. "If he's allied himself with Devimon then we've got to take him out now before he becomes too much of a problem. We could barely handle him before we got our crests, and now that he's combined with Devimon's powers we can't afford to have him running around like this. And now that I've got my crest, Agumon can digivolve to Ultimate again! We have to take this chance now while we still can!"

With that Tai turned and ran back down the passage, with Agumon right behind him shouting at him to slow down and wait for him.

"That idiot…" growled Jane and she turned to the others. "You guys get the Koromon to safety. Reno? You come with me! We've got to keep Tai from doing anything stupid!"

"Gotcha!" Said Reno.

"Hang on," said Joe. "Why is it just you two who're going into the battle? What about us?"

"In case you didn't notice," said Reno, catching on to what Jane had in mind. "We're OC's, so technically, we're not important. Not like you guys at any rate. If something goes wrong, and I'm thinking that it will, Tai's going to need a couple people to take the lumps for him. And last I checked, Jane and I aren't integral to how this story is going to get played out."

"That's debatable," began Izzy but Jane cut him off.

"Just get the Koromon out of here while we bring back Tai. If we don't come back in twenty minutes then move on. If we're still alive then it means that we just ran into a complication and we'll find you using our digivices later."

"That's not much of a comfort…" began Sora.

"Then it's decided," said Reno, talking over her. "Let's go Dagmon!"

The two OC's and their digimon partners ran after the Digidestined of Courage

* * *

Tai and Agumon stopped at the waterfall, crest and digivice ready and waiting. Agumon turned to Tai. 

"Tai? I don't think that this is a good idea…"

"We have to bring him down, Agumon," said Tai fiercely. "This isn't like it was last time."

As if to emphasize the point, a bolt of black lightning slammed into the ground outside the cave, causing the ground to shake.

"All right," said Agumon. "I'm willing to take him on if you are."

"All right!" Exclaimed Tai. "Digivolve!"

A glow erupted from within the cave, surrounding Agumon with all its glory while Tai took a step backwards to give his partner some room.

"AGUMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO… GREYMON!"

Agumon's form expanded to fit the inside of the cave, his body gaining blue stripes and a bone like armor covering his face with three horns protruding from it. With a roar, Greymon exited the cave to do battle with his revived foe.

_Okay,_ thought Tai as he gripped his tag that held his crest. _We can do this. I know we can…_

"TAI!"

Turning Tai saw Jane, Munnimon, Reno, and Dagmon running towards him.

"What the heck do you think you're doing? We've got to get out of here!"

**"Nova Blast!"**

Jane's face paled as she heard the mighty saurian begin his battle with the powered up Ultimate.

"GREYMON!" Shouted Reno. "GET OUT OF THERE! NOW!!!"

"DON'T LISTEN TO HIM, GREYMON!" Shouted Tai. "WE'VE GOT TO TAKE OUT ETEMON WHILE WE CAN! DO IT!** DIGIVOLVE!!!"**

"NO!!"

Jane's shout went unheeded as Tai's crest glowed with an eerie black light, and Greymon's cry of evolution froze the blood of everyone that was in that cave.

"GREYMON! DARK DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

**"SKULLGREYMON!"**

"Oh, shit…" said Reno softly.

* * *

He stood at the edge of Etemon's attack, near the Koromon village, watching the destruction play out. He had to say, this was turning out not at all as he expected, but then no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy. He certainly hadn't expected Greymon to dark digivolve like that. Not at all. 

_Oh well. Guess we'll see what sort of metal Etemon is really made of, but perhaps I should have them pull back so that he and Devimon don't get destroyed. I still need them._

His eyes glowing crimson, the dark youth that Etemon had encountered earlier tapped into the character profiles of Etemon and Devimon, and _suggested_ the idea that they should withdraw. It was like child's play to him.

* * *

Jane couldn't believe their luck as she and Reno helped haul an exhausted Agumon back into the cave, where a stunned and shaking Tai Kamiya greeted them. Not surprising given that his partner had just suddenly, and unexpectedly dark digivolved on him. Behind them straggled Munnimon and Dagmon, having received more than a few unkind blows from the raging skeleton lizard before getting caught in Etemon's Dark Network, draining them of their energy. Their only saving grace was that SkullGreymon had been snagged by the same attack, and while it didn't de-digivolve him as it did the two champions, it did sap enough of his energy where he did shortly after Etemon let up on his attack. They didn't know why Etemon had stopped attacking (might have had something to do with SkullGreymon sending a missile in his direction) but they were just glad that he did, and it gave them a chance to get the heck out of Dodge. 

Jane and Reno stopped in front of Tai, who stood there, unmoving as he stared at Agumon with sorrow filled eyes.

"C'mon Tai," said Jane. "Let's get out of here."

The sound of rushing water continued to fill the cave as Tai stepped forward to give them a hand with his partner.

* * *

12 


	38. Chapter 38

Disclaimer: The key term here is _fan_ fiction. That means that whatever I write under this term, I do not own. Digimon is no exception.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 37

Fourth Arc: Symphony of thirteen/01

**The Shadow's Divergence and Tai's Journey**: Part 3

The digital sun hung above the gathered group, a calm, but rather unnerving quiet having settled over them as recently shared information was processed, and a conclusion was made. As if to suit the mood with action, a wind picked up and a second later a scream rent the air as an attack was sounded.

**"Earth Spirit!"** Shouted Digital-Dragon-Master as she hurled an energy blast at the author Avatar known as Arc22, while around her, the other assembled Avatars stared at her in shock as the attack connected with its target, sending him to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dirt as his back slammed downwards, his breath getting knocked from his lungs.

"Wha…?" Began one of the other Avatars, but the one that had come in with Arc22, Goldcat, beat him to the punch.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU **DOING?!"** She screamed at Digi-Dragon as she stepped in front of her comrade, completely shocked that an author that she respected would resort to this sort of action. Digital-Dragon-Master looked at her with a rather startled expression.

"What're you talking about? You know what I'm doing! Heck, I'm surprised that you even brought him with you after what he did! Isn't that right, _Lord of Fantasy_?"

The sound of that name did it, and soon the other authors dropped into defensive stances, readying their Avatar attacks to blast Arc22 out of his account, and Goldcat too should she decide to back him. Arc22 coughed as he got some of his wind back, and sat up.

"I could have told you that this would happen," wheezed Arc22. "After all, Digi-Dragon was a fan of the Arc22 account's stories, and you never bothered to update the profile page…"

"Oh," said Goldcat as her feline face turned a light shade of red. "Oops…"

"Did you really think that you'd be able to slip by me by using an old account? Even _with_ a change of Avatar?" Demanded Digi-Dragon hotly. "I mean, seriously, that is such a dumb, and might I add _obvious_ idea that I can't believe that you actually would have done it. I would have thought that you'd be a lot smarter than that, but then considering what you did during the Fable War I guess intelligence just went out of your mind!"

"I wouldn't go that far," said Arc22 as he got to his feet, fingering the large sword that he had strapped to his waist. "But then, I didn't expect to come back here myself. Goldcat changed this accounts password too by the way, so until now this door was closed to me."

"Whatever," said Digi-Dragon. "Get out of the way, Goldcat! I wanna pummel this creep into the next millenniummon, and then get him to tell me where he took the characters and how to get them back!"

"_He didn't kidnap the characters_!" Exclaimed Goldcat, her voice starting to show signs of strain. "C'mon, he only wants to help… _honest_!"

"Sure, and Piedmon plays poker with the Digidestined without trying to kill them…"

"Actually," coughed one of the authors behind Digital-Dragon-Master. "He does. I sat in for Matt last Friday. You should see his card tricks…"

"Oh, shut up!" Said Digi-Dragon before returning her gaze to Goldcat. "I'm going to ask you one last time; get out of the way. I don't want to have to fight one of my favorite authors just to get at that bum, though why you're defending him is beyond me. I didn't think that author's could brainwash other authors…"

"Did it ever _occur_ to you that he might not have something to do with what's been going on? I mean, c'mon! Can't you give him a chance to explain his actions? I thought that you at least of all authors would hear him out before going in on him like this! Whatever happened to _innocent until proven guilty_?"

Digi-Dragon scowled.

"You wanna give me a reason why I should even _trust_ this scumbag?"

"Because _I _can help you get the characters out of that stupid website that's kidnapped them," grated Arc22. Digi-Dragon turned to him, her reptilian eyes narrowing as she flexed her dragon wings irritably.

"I'm sorry. Were you under the impression that I was _talking_ to you?"

The Avatar known as Arc22 growled, but kept his peace. Digi-Dragon turned back to Goldcat, who just shrugged her shoulders.

"It's true. He's got an idea that we can use to breach the defenses of that domain zone, at least temporarily. That, and we also have to rescue Dean and another friend of ours from there as well."

Digi-Dragon turned her gaze back to Arc22, not liking this at all. On one hand, she didn't like the idea of siding with a person that she considered a traitor, but there were the characters and their well being to think about. If the now former _Lord of Fantasy_ was really behind all this, then why did he come here to help them? It could be as a way to eliminate what authors were already preparing to resist him, seeing as how Dean was already taken care of…

But…

Goldcat, despite her association with the Lord of Fantasy both on the old Arc22 account and on her own, was known to not trust out of blind faith. She had a head on her shoulders that said that she thought and questioned things often, even if that something was a friend. The reviews that she left certainly said as much, as she would point out little or big things that were inconsistent, and it was known that she tended to choose the story over the couple, something that Digi-dragon knew to be a bone of contention between her and Lord of Fantasy after the events of 02 had ended. She wasn't one to be swayed easily, and it would take a _very_ persuasive argument to get her to change her mind. What was it that made her so sure that Arc22, or the _Lord of Fantasy_ was on the level with this one? Settling her gaze on Goldcat, Digi-Dragon decided to take a leap of faith.

"All right," said Digital-Dragon-Master. "But I want Arc22, or Lord of Fantasy, or whatever he calls himself to stay out of this for the time being unless he's spoken to. Until then, I want you to tell me everything you know about this little debacle, and what _he_ has to do with it."

Goldcat nodded, and carefully swallowed before beginning.

"Well, shortly before we got an E-Mail about the characters disappearing, Arc22… _Mark_… approached us wanting to find the missing data of Milleniummon…"

* * *

Time flew for most of the children on wings of an Angemon as they journeyed across the barren wasteland of the desert of Server, avoiding Etemon and Devimon's traps as deftly as they could, gathering the crests belonging to Joe and Mimi as they came up. The Coliseum where they had originally encountered a wild Greymon, and the sand sailing cruise ship belonging to the rooster digimon, Kokatorimon. All things considered the majority of children could say that they were fine…

Tai on the other hand…

Tai was trapped in his own personal hell right now. To recap, there was a struggle that involved an author known as the Lord of Fantasy who had tried to change the story of the Digimon characters to suit his own desires, and Tai was one of the unlucky characters that had been scarred by that conflict, slowly, and steadily spiraling into a depression. He had counted the Lord of Fantasy as one of his closest friends and he had been betrayed. And just when everyone thought that it couldn't get any worse…

It happened again.

Finding out that you're a victim of deranged authors who want to not only make your story theirs, but to remake it so that it fits their desires not just once, but _twice_, has a way of making a person feel a tad bit irritated at the world. And that sort of frustration has a way of carrying through the bonds of Digidestined, and partner digimon, as Agumon had shown in the most disastrous way possible, a dark digivolution.

Tai's frustration at the recent turn of events, combined with his own depression and the problem of having to deal with an upgraded Etemon (as if the original hadn't been bad enough) did little to alleviate the situation that everyone was in, and his own emotional chaos seeped through his link with Agumon, making him digivolve into the evil and frightening SkullGreymon instead of his true Ultimate form of MetalGreymon. With Tai finding himself unsure of how his emotions will affect Agumon in any possible future battles, he had declared himself unfit to lead the others. Well, not openly mind you, but the way he moved and spoke seemed to give everyone a clear indication that he apparently thought so, and he deferred more and more of the decision making to the others, particularly Reno and Jane, though as to why no one seemed to understand to clearly. While Tai tried to maintain an outlook that was still reminiscent of his old self (and failing in that regard) the group plodded onwards through the desert, setting their sites in the direction of an upside down pyramid. Weird, but that's where they were headed, as they believed it to hold the key to their getting out of this twisted copy of the digital world that they had all known.

"You know," said Reno, as he took a look around at the vast plain of sand around the group. "I'm experiencing a strange sense of déjà vu."

"Reno," said Jane. "We're in a _desert_. I imagine that there's going to be a lot of terrain here that's bound to look familiar."

"I'll say," said Mimi. "This is just like that time that I was in the Digimon TV show, right after I got my crest…"

"Mimi," groaned Jane. "This _is_ just like the time you were on the show. And we just got your crest yesterday…"

"My. Aren't we Miss Cranky? And what possessed you to wear those clothes, especially in this heat? Black? Yuck!"

Jane just rolled her eyes.

"For your information, my author designed me with this outfit, which I _happen_ to like by the way. Though there is something to be said about wearing dark clothing in the middle of a desert."

"I'll say. _Hot_!"

"No argument there," agreed Jane.

Next to her, Reno was in deep thought. Something was bugging him. Something seemed off for some reason. It was now more than just a sense of déjà vu. Something about what Mimi had said about how this was just like the episode after she received her crest. While a little stupid sounding, it poked at Reno's brain like an incessant itch that refused to be scratched.

"Okay, I admit that a breeze would be nice," said Tai in an attempt to sound jovial. "But it's still a beautiful day, don't you think?"

Reno's eyes suddenly widened as something began to click in his mind.

"Yeah," said Agumon from next to Tai. "Maybe for a scorpion."

_No way… oh crap! _Thought Reno, his mind racing. _Something happened in this episode, real early too! What was it? I know something big is about to occur, but what? What?!_

A memory of the first episode of Digimon flitted through his mind and all the pieces fit together.

"Hold on everybody!" Said Reno. "I think that this is the episode that Kuwaga-AAAH!!!"

Suddenly the ground erupted beneath the children's feet, sending most of them falling backwards while Tai and Agumon, who were at the head of the group, disappeared beneath the sandy ground, only to be hauled upwards into the air a second later as the familiar form of a Kuwagamon came out of the ground, with the duo gripping its pincers tightly. The massive insectoid thrust its head upwards, tossing the goggle-wearing boy and his dinosaur partner into the air, sending them into the ground face first where they became stuck. Agumon's feet kicked the air frantically as muffled screams could be heard coming from beneath the ground.

"NO WAY!" Shouted Jane. "I THOUGHT THAT WE DESTROYED HIM!"

"It might not be the same one," said Reno.

"Hold on. You wanna run that by me again, Einstein? If I remember my episodes this was _supposed _to be the very same Kuwagamon that first appeared at File Island, and we smoked him! There's no way that he could have been reformatted at Primary Village and digivolved this quickly just so that he can show up here again!"

"Well, I have a theory about that…" began Reno, but was cut off as Dagmon leapt at the massive beetle.

"NEVER MIND THE THEORIES!" Howled Dagmon as he soared towards Kuwagamon. "LET'S JUST TAKE 'EM DOWN BEFORE HE SLICES AGUMON IN TWO!**" **

Dagmon opened his jaws, and his teeth grew before turning black. He closed in on the Kuwagamon, preparing to bite off a chunk of the large, viral champion insect.

**"Shadow Fang!"**

With a growl, Kuwagamon tossed his head with just enough force so that the ends of his pincers batted the wolf digimon to the side. The distraction gave Agumon just enough time to dig himself out of the ground and get back to his feet, turning to face the adversary.

**"Pepper Breath!"**

A concentrated fireball erupted from Agumon's mouth and shot towards the Kuwagamon, causing the digimon to scream in pain, but he didn't back down.

"Uh…" began Agumon as Kuwagamon started to lean towards him, pincers spreading. "I'm having flashbacks here…"

* * *

A short distance away, Tai Kamiya had also dug himself out of the ground and was currently watching the battle, a familiar feeling of anxiety spreading throughout his body as Gabumon shouted for Agumon to digivolve to Greymon.

"All right," said Tai. "All right. Rethinking our training program here…"

The image of SkullGreymon flashed in his mind. Tai cursed himself and ran forward to help his partner. He had to remind himself that he had already experienced episode eighteen once, and that one time was enough for him to know that Agumon's Ultimate form couldn't show up unless Agumon was already at the Champion level. Maybe that worry came from some residual effect of the script that he and the others wre forced to go by before they regained their memories, or maybe it was a result of seeing SkullGreymon again. Either way, it didn't matter. What did was Agumon's safety, as he was just standing there like a stone statue while Kuwagamon drew closer.

"AGUMON! STAY AWAY FROM HIS CHOPPERS!"

At the sound of Tai's voice, Agumon snapped back to reality, but it was already too late to digivolve. Not with Kuwagamon so close to him with his pincers.

"MOVE AGUMON!" Shouted Gomamon, unable to believe that he was reliving this moment again, just as he had found it difficult to believe that he had basically relived every moment of his time in the first season already. "MOVE! MOVE! DO SOMETHING! GET BACK!"

Jane stepped forward, digivice in hand with Munnimon joining her, only to be stopped by Reno's arm.

"Wha…?"

"Don't," said the boy calmly. "They need this. Besides, you know what happens next."

Jane looked at Reno skeptically before nodding her head. Reno was right. Tai and Agumon did need this, but they couldn't just stand back and watch this happen again. Besides, what if things went differently?

Tai bowled Agumon over just a second before Kuwagamon's jaws snapped forward, barely avoiding becoming a bloody hood ornament for the insect.

"Got you!"

Agumon looked up at Tai first, and then at Kuwagamon, watching him pull back.

"Nice one," said the orange dinosaur as Kuwagamon lunged forward once more, snapping its pincers closed with no apparent sign that doing so was making a difference. As the kids stood by, watching the scene unfold in front of them, a voice sounded upon the air.

**"Pixi Bomb! Seek and destroy!" **

Before any of the children could react, a strange spherical object with a nasty, grinning face and bat-like wings soared towards Kuwagamon, and a second later, the giant insect was reduced to data debris. The children, breathing a sigh of relief, rushed forward, asking Tai and Agumon (who were half buried by the sand that had been kicked up by Kuwagamon's destruction) if they were all right. As if there was any reason to doubt otherwise, as they had already been through this scene once before, which was why no one was surprised to see the small, round, spear wielding, pink furred form of the fairy winged Piximon striding through their midst, singing a strange, drum like tune as he passed by.

"Yi-deh-deh-dee-duh-dee…"

"Piximon," said Jane as rolled her eyes. "Why am I _not_ surprised?"

"Probably because you've already seen the episode," said Joe Kido as he pushed up his glasses.

"I was being sarcastic."

"A powder puff with wings!" Exclaimed Mimi from her spot next to Izzy, gripping the boy's hand tightly in one of her own.

"Do we have to go through the same song and dance as before?" Asked Matt.

"HA!" Exclaimed Piximon as he spun around and pointed his spear at the children. "Singing and dancing seems to be all that I've seen you kids do! You kids are supposed to be the Digidestined, but half the time it seems that you yourselves are just as much the enemy as those that you fight! Yup! Yup! I've heard a lot about you but so far I am _not _impressed!"

The children all stood up at that, feeling a little insulted but they had to remind themselves that this version of Piximon had not seen the adventures that they had already experienced, and were experiencing again.

"You seven…" Piximon halted and did a quick head count, a look of confusion appearing on the diminutive warrior's face for the first time in all the while that the children had known him. Nonetheless, he continued on anyway. "…Nine are supposed to be the _Digidestined_! HA! You better be more careful, or you'll end up _Digi-dinners!_ Yup! Yup! Without my spears or my magic," Piximon waved his spear around as emphasis. "Kuwagamon would be eating you with a side order of Digi-fries!"

"Yeah, we kinda got that…" began Joe, only to be elbowed by Reno, and hence, shutting him up. Anything that could possibly reveal what was really going on to those who were ignorant of what was going on might cause unnecessary complications…

Reno blinked as a thought occurred to him, and walking forward he approached Piximon, who stood his ground, carefully watching the boy as he came forward and bent down to one knee, and held out the arm that had his D-Comp attached to it.

"Hey, Piximon?" Asked Reno. "I… this may sound like a stupid question but… could you touch my digivice?"

Behind him, the other kids sweatdropped. They highly doubted that Piximon would honor such a request, but…

If this was the same Piximon from the FanFic Domain, then having him with his memory back would give them a huge advantage. Reno decided that a little prompting might be necessary.

"…Um… it would… uh… honor me if it was touched by the famous Piximon… like… an autograph and… stuff… heh, heh…"

Reno scratched the back of his head nervously as he felt his face flush. _Oh man… this idea sounded so much better in my head…_

Piximon looked at the boy with a raised eyebrow, his eyes locked on Reno's eyes as though he were looking into the depths of his soul, searching for any hidden mischief before tentatively reaching forward with his spear, and touching Reno's D-Comp.

There was a flash of light, and Piximon leapt back in surprise, raising his spear in self-defense before finally looking over at the Digidestined. A look of recognition appeared on his face, and he lowered his spear, smiling.

"Well," began Piximon. "This is certainly a predicament, isn't it? Yup! Yup! Thank you Reno for restoring my memories, but now we should get out of here, don't you think?"

"We were heading over to the pyramid from episode twenty," began Izzy but Piximon cut him off.

"Not yet. There are still some things that you kids have to finish up first, like getting your remaining crests for example. And then there's Tai and Agumon…"

"Mwha…?" The two partners were dumbstruck.

"You heard me! You two need lots of help! The way you two were acting today was a lot like the last time we went through this, so it looks like you'll have to go through your _training_ again! I don't know what your problem is, but you two are supposed to be _Digidestined_ characters! I want to see some _guts_! I want to see some _courage_!"

"But Piximon," said Izzy. "If we go to the pyramid we might stand a chance of getting back to the FanFic Domain…"

"But you don't know that for sure, do you?" Asked Piximon. "And don't forget, Etemon is still out there, and from what I've heard he's got a partner that's given him a power upgrade, so you'll need all the strength that you have in order to face him! You shouldn't rely on any single plan either; after all, if it doesn't work out you'll be in hot soup then! Yup! Yup!"

"With or without the memories," said Joe under his breath. "He's still the same. You'd think that he'd be asking questions or something about how everything happened…"

"You should know Joe," said Piximon, not losing a beat. "That I have excellent hearing!"

Joe blushed in embarrassment at being overheard, but said nothing.

" There will be time enough for questions later," said Piximon. "But priorities come first! Etemon is out there and we have to get within the barrier before he shows up! Now, follow me!"

And without waiting to see if he was going to be obeyed, Piximon swiftly turned around and began walking in what seemed like a random direction, picking up the same marching tune that he had been singing earlier while the kids held council.

"What do you think?" Asked Sora "Should we go with him?"

"It seems logical to me," said Izzy. "After all, we still may need the crests in order to fight Etemon, and at this stage in our development as characters, we're unable to digivolve our partners to their Ultimate forms without them."

"I agree with Izzy on this one," said Matt.

"But what about this _training_ thing?" Asked Tai. "Do I have to go through that again? The first time was bad enough, and I doubt that there's going to be anything that's going to be different in that stupid cave."

"You never know, Tai," said Jane. "Besides. Piximon's right. Your fighting technique has been off ever since we got here. I don't know if it's from the Fable War events, or from watching Agumon become SkullGreymon again but it's time for you to face your fears again. You wanna get out of here? Then that's what you're going to do!"

Tai said nothing in reply, but instead looked down at the ground and ground his teeth in frustration.

"Let's put it to a vote," said Matt. "All in favor say '_I'_."

A second later nine human voices mixed with nine digimon rang out in unison.

_"I!" _

"Would you all just _hurry up?!"_ Shouted Piximon from a good distance of several yards away.

* * *

Shadow Etemon, as he had come to calling himself after being exposed to Devimon's Black Gears, watched the screens with more than a hint of annoyance as images of landscapes, the map of his extensive computer network, phased in and out into television static. Devimon watched the Ultimate from the shadows, a wary look in his eyes as he gauged his mood. Looking at him, Devimon wondered if it was a good idea to join forces with that strange, but powerful child. He had done so out of desperation at the time, but his current assignment made him question his orders. Etemon was erratic and every bit the egotist. These two traits were only heightened by the Black Gears that were imbedded within his body and that made him doubly dangerous, as he would now _delete_ any of the Gazimon that worked for him if they became a little uppity or just plain annoyed him.

_I do not trust this Etemon,_ thought Devimon darkly. _I do not believe that he has what it takes to defeat the Digidestined. Perhaps I should see about finding them on my own and destroying them before Etemon does. Even with the power I granted him, he seems incapable of doing the deed himself!_

Clenching one of his hands into a fist, Devimon faded into the shadows, determined to find the Digidestined on his own. Not at all noticing Devimon's departure, Shadow Etemon continued to rant at his Gazimon, hauling one of them out of his seat and into the air after he had made an unwise comment towards his temperamental boss.

"Rrrgh! I'll show you a _conniption fit_ you insolent little worm! Fix it right away! I have a show to get on!"

* * *

Nighttime…

Jane sighed in contentment as she lay on the floor, her black jacket folded beneath her head and constituting as her pillow. Absently, she brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes before fiddling with the hair band that she had wrapped around her wrist after letting her hair down. Turning her head, she looked around the room. Tai and Agumon weren't back yet from their _training_, which was to be expected. Journeys of the soul could be long and arduous. Besides, that's how it went in the show anyway. Matt and Izzy were gone as well, and unlike last time Gabumon and Tentomon had gone with them, mostly because they were expecting the two kids to leave them behind again, and Matt and Izzy saw the wisdom in taking them along this time around, having remembered what had happened the last time they went out to get their crests without their partners. They didn't want to be caught facing down one of Etemon's cronies again without backup. Finally, her eyes settled on Reno. He was still awake.

"Hey."

"Hmmm?" Reno turned his face towards the girl. He looked as though she had brought him out of deep thought. Jane sat up.

"What was that theory that you were going on about earlier? The one about Kuwagamon. You never got around to telling us about it."

"Oh," Reno shrugged his shoulders. "It was just something that the Author Dean had told me back before the Fable War, when he had _contacted _me to look into what was going on in Odaiba. He had said something about how stories would auto correct themselves if they were changed in some way that disagreed with how it went. Supposed to be some kind of defense mechanism I think, which is why another Kuwagamon showed up in the place of the original. Because it was _meant_ to happen so that Piximon could be brought in and introduced. There couldn't be a plot hole allowed to develop that would deviate from the script, which could explain why the Digidestined kept having trouble with their memories back in the Fable war. On one hand, they're memories were altered to correspond to the story, but because they weren't owned by the Lord of Fantasy, combined with the unexpected presence of OC's in the fic, they're original memories would keep trying to resurface."

Reno sighed and shrugged. "Dean was a little bit more in depth than that of course, and the way he said it made it sound pretty complicated but he seemed to understand it, and that was good enough for me."

"I see…" said Jane after a moment. "But… if that's the case, then how come the story hasn't tried to _correct_ the characters? A lot of things have happened already, and I doubt that our being here is keeping the story from self-correcting."

Reno frowned. "That's a good point. Maybe… maybe there's something else going on. Something bigger. It could be the authors from the FanFic Domain or something, trying to find us. Or maybe they know where we are and they just can't get in, but they can affect the story or something. Maybe…"

"A lot of _maybes _going on here," said Jane. "I'll settle for getting the answers when they show up."

"You're no fun," grumbled Reno. "You know, we're _supposed_ to be prepared for anything. After all, if something happens that lets us know that it's not the authors who are behind whatever it is that's keeping the story from correcting itself we'll need to be ready."

"Look, the way I see it is that we've already seen some signs that this story _does_ self-correct. We've seen the evidence with Kuwagamon and Patamon…"

"Yeah, but then there's Biyomon's current Champion form of Saberdramon, not to mention that the Yokomon village was wiped off the face of the digital world by a berserk Meramon…"

"… … Point taken. But we can't really prepare for something when we don't know what form it can take. For all we know it might be just broken data in the story or maybe the author's too lazy to edit or hasn't bothered to double check his or her notes. We just don't have enough information at the moment."

"We should still at least be on our guard though…"

"I never said that we shouldn't be," said Jane curtly. Reno sighed in exaspiration.

"You know… you can be a tough person to deal with."

Jane smiled softly. "I don't know if that's a compliment or not but thanks anyway. It's how I was written. I take it that you're used to going your own way in things?"

"Normally, yeah. But you have a pretty strong personality. Heck, I'm surprised that we haven't tried to kill each other already."

"I try not to let it get to that point," said Jane. "I don't like to ruffle anyone's tail feathers unless I have to, but you've been pretty good about everything, that and you've come up with some good ideas. At the very least, I listen to ideas."

Reno smiled. "Thanks."

The children were silent for a moment.

"Well," said Reno. "We'd better turn in. If I know Etemon, and the episodes, we'll need to be rested to fight him tomorrow."

"Good advice," said Jane.

* * *

A group of screens on Shadow Etemon's viewer finally flickered to life, revealing the map that had once been obscured. A purple circle appeared around one specific location, signaling to the Gazimon stationed at the viewers control panels that something had been detected in that area.

"Shadow Etemon. We have contact in sector G-3, sir!"

"What?" Exclaimed Shadow Etemon as he stood up in surprise and grabbed one of the Gazimon and began shaking him vigorously. "Why that's the sector that we just passed through! Turn us around! Turn us around ya little Whipper Snapper! What're ya waitin' for?"

Shadow Etemon laughed as a thought occurred to him.

"Sector G-3's Tyrannomon's territory! Send 'em at once! I love a roadie with a good appetite!"

The Gazimon blinked. "Uh… Shadow Etemon? I'm picking up Devimon's signal in that area."

Shadow Etemon frowned as he digested this news.

"Care to run that by me again?"

* * *

Izzy and Matt hauled themselves out of the well while Tentomon and Gabumon looked at them, anxiously awaiting news of the crests, which the two boys displayed triumphantly. Suddenly a dark shadow fell over them and all four of them looked at its source, and a cold chill nearly froze them in place.

"Digidestined," mocked Devimon as he towered over them. "Your road ends here…"

"Ohhhh nuts," whined Tentomon as Devimon drew back a clawed hand to attack.

**"Death Claw!"**

The boy's digivices sprang to life, and their crests began to glow.

* * *

Tai and Agumon weren't at all surprised to find that they were in the same boat as the last time they had entered Piximon's cave (the _stupid cave_, as Tai called it), and this time Tai had enough sense to just sit in the boat instead of standing up. So it was that the pair just sat in the boat and waited. Waiting for when they would arrive at their destination. The strange thing was, there wasn't any sign of the bridge that they had gone to last time. Just… fog.

"I'm bored," growled Tai absently. "We've been stuck here for hours and we don't seem to be going anywhere."

"Well, isn't this how it was last time?" Asked Agumon.

"Yeah, but something should have happened by now. Something…"

Suddenly the boat ground to a halt, the wood scraping on pavement as it washed up onto a city street. The ocean or lake that the boat had been on was still there, shrouded by fog, but it ended in the center of a city as though it were a beach. Taking a look around, Tai saw that there were buildings, a familiar and expected landmark to go along with the street, only there was something off about them. Maybe it had something to do with the huge gaping holes that were in them, the cracks in their foundations, the rubble that lay scattered about on the ground, and the smoke that billowed out of ruptured gas lines and destroyed cars. It looked as though a great battle had been fought here. But the question was… where was here?

Looking around, Tai found a street sign that bore a familiar a familiar name on it. The name of the street that Izzy's apartment was located back home.

"I don't believe it," whispered Tai as he took a look back at the empty city streets.

"… We're in Odaiba."

* * *

**"Hell Contract!" **

Dark energy blasts tore up the ground, ricocheting off of MegaKabuterimon's hard shell as the viral digimon tried to buy some distance between himself and the Ultimate level insect. He had definitely _not_ expected such a swift, and powerful digivolution from not one, but _two_ digimon after finding their crests so quickly. And where was the other digimon…?

**"Wolf Claw!"**

Devimon howled in pain as WereGarurumon's claws tore into his back, shredding his wings. He couldn't take much more of this. He had to get away as quickly as possible, retreat and figure out a way to compensate for the children's newly attained level. Lashing out with his claws, Devimon tried to swat the punk wolf away from him, only to have his arm caught and pulled forward. Before he knew what was happening, WereGarurumon's fist collided with Devimon's face, sending him hurtling into the ground. As the demonic digimon tried to recover, WereGarurumon spoke.

"Give it up, Devimon," the wolf digimon growled. "You're no match for us!"

Devimon smirked.

"Perhaps. But I will not surrender to the likes of you."

"In that case," spoke a harsh voice from above him. "You leave us with no choice!"

Looking up, Devimon saw the massive form of MegaKabuterimon rushing towards him, the great horn on his head glowing.

**"Horn Buster!"**

There was a great explosion as MegaKabuterimon impacted with the ground.

* * *

Shadow Etemon watched the battle take place on the monitors. There was no way that he was going to get there in time. He was half tempted to just leave Devimon to his fate for leaving the trailer and not telling him (that and Devimon just gave him the creeps) but the Digidestined were their mutual enemies. They had to be destroyed! But with two Ultimates out there it was going to be pointless sending in Tyrannomon unless he himself joined the fray, and he was just too far away for that.

And then his sensors picked up another signal.

* * *

Devimon's laughter broke upon the air as the smoke settled. Devimon had transported himself out of harms way at the last second, right before MegaKabuterimon launched his attack. Matt, Izzy, WereGarurumon, and MegaKabuterimon followed the source of the laugh, and found Devimon floating above them, wings outspread, supporting his body in the air despite the holes and tears that were in them.

"You are fools, Digidestined! You may have digivolved to the Ultimate level, but that does _not_ make you my equal. However strong you may think you are, know that there is always something stronger! Evil is everywhere, and you cannot destroy them all. All you are doing is wasting your time!"

Devimon let out one last laugh that echoed upon the wind and vanished into the air, as though he had never been.

"That coward," muttered Matt as he began to relax.

"Not a coward. Just smart," said a cold, empty voice behind him, causing the two boys to turn in its direction. They came face to face with a humanoid being, about Matt's size, thin, and wrapped in tattered clothes. His face was covered by a scarf, and a crimson light burned where eyes should have been. If it weren't for this last bit, Matt would have said that he was human, perhaps no older than he and Izzy were.

"Who…? Who are you?" Asked Izzy, honestly startled. He hadn't noticed him approaching them.

The strange beings right arm morphed, becoming a steel, clawed gauntlet. Matt and Izzy gasped as they realized that they recognized it as being similar to that of WarGreymon. Only _one_ being that was human had that…

"The Lord of Fantasy…" whispered Matt.

The being that Matt called the Lord of Fantasy leapt forward, morphing his other arm into a clawed gauntlet and aimed it at Matt.

* * *

Tai and Agumon walked through the ghostly remains of Odaiba, the fog that had engulfed the ocean behind them having now spread into the city, covering it with darkness.

"HELLL-LOOOO!" Called out Tai and Agumon. "IS ANYONE OUT THERE?!"

No answer.

"This is pointless," grumbled Tai as he kicked at a chunk of rubble, causing it to tumble off into the mists. Agumon looked at his partner worriedly.

"Why do you say that Tai?"

"Because…" began Tai. "…Oh never mind! I don't know why we're even here! Why was Piximon so set on us going through this lesson again? We've already been through this once, and once was enough! And it's not like this sort of thing matters anyway! We're just characters! We're… not real."

"Is that what this is all about Tai?" Asked Agumon quietly. Tai sighed.

"Yeah," he whispered. "I guess so. You know, it's funny. I never really thought about it before, but when I learned that I wasn't a real character I felt… I felt like I had been expecting it, you know? I guess all characters expect it to some degree. Some have reacted differently though, like Zoe, Rika, TK, Davis, Cody, Yolie… Yolie especially though Davis seemed rather taken with the idea after he had time to let the news settle in for a while. Certainly inflated his ego when he figured that it gave him celebrity status." Tai laughed, remembering Davis's antics after the first week of finding out that he had a cult following in addition to supporters of Daikari.

"And there were all the friends that we made after our show ended," continued Tai after the brief pause. "OC's, authors, we even came to an understanding with some of our former enemies."

"Yeah," laughed Agumon. "Can you believe that the Etemon from back home is now one of Matt's closest friends in the music business?"

Tai chuckled. "Well, I didn't think it would have happened if not for that single that Matt released titled _'Monkey Business'_, but Etemon sure liked it. Boy, I never thought I'd see the day where _he'd_ be asking for an autograph from one of his old enemies. It was really freaky!"

The two friends shared another laugh between each other before returning to the discussion at hand.

"I always thought that I could trust writers. I mean, sure, there were those authors who would start up a flame war over a pairing that they preferred, or an author who would go out of his or her way to bash a specific character just because they didn't like them, but we all learned to coexist with those people, and vice versa. It's just… none of them went as far as _Mark_ did. And the worst part is, I _trusted_ him. And now I feel as though I meant nothing to him, as if the others and me were just playthings that he could use, regardless of the things that we wanted. For the first time I understood how some of the OC's felt about their lives… about how they felt _devalued_ by authors. Being created just to serve a spot in a story…"

"But, Tai," said Agumon. "Isn't that what we were made for?"

Tai was thunderstruck. For some reason, this thought had never once occurred to him. But why? Why hadn't he thought that before? Maybe it was because he had lived without the knowledge of being only a creation from someone else's imagination that the idea of being a real human being instead of an imaginary one had become so deeply engrained in his character that he never had a reason to think otherwise. Which was the problem with OC's. They knew what they were from day one, despite whatever memories that they might have. Some could handle it, but there were also those that couldn't, and when that happened their story ended up not being finished. There were numerous fics involving OC characters that just sat around unfinished because their creator lost touch with them. Because the characters couldn't deal with not really existing while at the same time having memories that clearly said otherwise.

Tai wondered if believing that you were real first served as some kind of buffer against insanity. Or maybe it was just how they were designed. At the studios, the Digidestined were laboriously created over a period of days and months before they were finished and put down into a manga or a show while OC's were pretty much _spur of the moment_ in comparison. Maybe.

"Yeah. It's what we were made for Agumon, but the Lord of Fantasy abused us. Like I said, I trusted him and he broke that trust. How can I think that any other author could be different now? How can I read a script from a story and not wonder if his influence is in those words?"

For that, Agumon had no answer. But that was what the cave was for.

Suddenly the fog parted, revealing a group of children that Tai recognized all to well. They were after all his friends.

They were all there. Both seasons. Everyone from the original team to the second season group. And, most importantly, _he_ was there. Tai Kamiya, or rather as he was during the Battle of Odaiba during the Fable War. A young adult fresh out of college, hair still as bushy as it had been during his adventures in the digital world. A man who had recently proposed to the love of his life, Sora Takenouchi, only to find that it was not meant to be. That it had all been a lie, a manipulation by someone who could not accept how the story had been told, and refused to settle for just _second best_. It had to be his way and nothing else. So great was his desire that he had forced Tai to try and kill his best friend. And that… in Tai's mind, that was unforgivable.

As Tai watched the familiar scene, the one where Tai had been trying to rally the other Digidestined to go and fight the Lord of Fantasy, the mists came forward again, and obscured them. All save for the older looking Tai, who upon seeing that his friends had disappeared turned to face his younger incarnation.

"You remember this day, don't you?" Asked the older Tai, and the younger looked at him in surprise. "You were angry, you felt like you had been _violated_, and in a way you had been; you and the others. You wanted to make the Lord of Fantasy pay for what happened to you, but you also told yourself that no matter what you would not sink to his level. We both grew up a lot during our time in the digital world; otherwise you wouldn't have thought that."

"Yeah," said the younger Tai. "But what's your point? For that matter, what's the point of any of this if people that we trust might take advantage of us? We're not real. None of us are real…"

"Yeah," said the elder nodding. "But our version of the _real world_ isn't all that different from theirs. During our adventures we learned a lot about what it meant to be a responsible person, and about trusting others and believing in ourselves. Maybe it was wasted on us; maybe it was wasted on our friends. Maybe it was all done for the money, but ask yourself this. You're here now. You exist in the minds of all the people who know the story of _Tai Kamiya_, and after a fashion our life has influenced them in both good and bad ways. Do you really think that it was all for nothing?"

Tai was about to answer _yes_, but a tug on his shorts made him look down at his partner, Agumon. Memories of when they had first met came to him. Memories, the original ones that is, of the number of times that they had fought together, going on faith, their heart, a plan, or just plain determination, not once knowing that they were running on a script. Did people in the real, _real_ world run on a similar script? Not knowing whether or not they made their own decisions or if it was all preordained? Living by those little storybook concepts known as _Fate,_ and _Destiny_? These were the sort of questions that were even discussed in the FanFic Domain. An author that he had once read, an author who had gone by the pen name _Socrates_ had once written a story that had posted the question in the form of its title; '_Do the Gods have Gods?_ It was taken down for being too controversial but it had stuck with Tai. And now, looking at Agumon, he realized that he didn't care any more about what had happened to him. He had lived a good life, made some terrific friends that he wouldn't trade for the world, and had learned lessons about life that some people never get to find out even if they live to be a hundred. Tai gave his friend a comforting pat on the head before returning his gaze to the elder _Tai_.

"No," he said, feeling the slightest amount of moisture beginning to emerge from his tear ducts. "It was all worth it."

The elder Tai nodded and smiled.

"Cool. Now why don't you leave all this self pity stuff behind and go help your friends? They kinda need you right now."

"Wha…?"

Suddenly Tai and Agumon were surrounded by a bright light, and they saw what had been going on during their absence.

* * *

The Avatar that Tai recognized as belonging to the Lord of Fantasy had beaten both WereGarurumon and MegaKabuterimon into the ground by the time the other children plus Piximon had shown up. Currently he was playing _tag_ with Lillymon while Zudomon waited for the pair to slow down long enough for him to get a shot in. Saberdramon circled in the air above them, sending down a flurry of shadowy fireballs at the Avatar. Lunasmon and Rocmon were both on the ground, breathing heavily, having gotten too close to the Avatar's claws. Piximon was guarding the children with his barrier, deflecting any stray blast that came their way.

"Agumon!" Shouted Tai. "Get in there!"

A burst of light surrounded the little orange dinosaur, and his body grew in size.

"AGUMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO… GREYMON!"

No sooner than the lightshow died down the massive, orange, blue striped dinosaur charged forward, an intensity burning in his soul like never before. As he ran, the Lord of Fantasy finally snagged Lillymon by her ankle and threw her into Saberdramon. Zudomon took that one seconds worth of distraction to unleash his Vulcan's Hammer attack, only to have the Lord of Fantasy dodge it and fly straight towards him, claws extended.

**"Nova Blast!"**

A superheated sphere of fire suddenly smashed into the Lord of Fantasy, blasting him away from Zudomon and sending him crashing into the earth. Struggling to his knees, the Lord of Fantasy fixed Tai Kamiya with a cold look that almost made his blood freeze.

_What the…?_ Thought Tai as he stared back. _That… that can't be Mark. Not the Mark that I remember. I mean, sure, he did disappear after the Fable War but… what the heck happened to him? He looks… **empty!**_

_It's almost as if he's not really there… _

"Tai…" the Lord of Fantasy spat. "Traitor…"

Tai frowned.

"No. _You_ were the one who betrayed our friendship. Sora, Matt, and I made our decisions and you couldn't accept that and move on."

"You didn't make those decisions," Said the Avatar coldly. "Your original writers did. Did they ever consider what **you** wanted, Tai?" Tai could almost swear that he could see wisps of cold air escaping the scarf that he had wrapped around his face. An eerie red glow burned where his eyes should have been.

_What **happened **to him?_ Wondered Tai.

Tai shook his head.

"Maybe. But then again, maybe not. Don't stories take on a life and meaning of their own? Oh well. I didn't come here to talk philosophy. That was never my thing anyway. I'm going to ask you to get out of here before I decide to call out the really big guns."

The Lord of Fantasy got into a defensive position.

"You and what army?"

Tai narrowed his eyes. "The one I call _my friends_, something that you seem to have forgotten _Mark_."

The Avatar glared at Tai for a moment before speaking.

"I am _not_ Mark," he hissed. Before Tai could even ask what it was that he was talking about the Lord of Fantasy broke into a run towards the goggled Digidestined. There was a flash of light from Tai's crest, and Greymon felt new power flood through him.

"GREYMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO… METALGREYMON!"

The Lord of Fantasy suddenly found himself getting swiped into the air by the massive mechanical claw of MetalGreymon. Howling in rage he brought his hands together and summoned an energy sphere similar to WarGreymon's Terra Force attack, but the powerful Ultimate below him beat him to the punch. Not wanting to pull punches with the Avatar (as they tended to be _very_ powerful) MetalGreymon's chest plate opened up, revealing two missile tubes from which he fired twin shark shaped missiles, aimed right at the Lord of Fantasy.

**"Giga Blaster!" **

The missiles streaked towards their target, exploding upon impact, the concussive force strong enough to force everyone down to the ground and cover their ears. When the blast died down Tai and the others looked up in the sky.

Of the Lord of Fantasy there was no sign.

* * *

"It was him," said Jane shortly after the battle. "Reno and I both analyzed him during the fight. That was definitely the Lord of Fantasy's Avatar. No question about it. But there was something off about him. More off than your usual, psychotic, barely in control, author bent on taking over a TV show's story."

Tai could only stare at the horizon, wondering just what it all meant, while at the same time feeling a great sense of relief in his heart. He still hurt deep inside, and he suspected that he always would, but now at last he could move on.

Tai's face became downcast as he remembered the good times that he had shared with the Lord of Fantasy, and found it hard to believe that someone that he had once called a friend could be capable of doing what he had done. But when all was said and done, that was what had happened, and now he may never know the reasons for why he did what he did.

_Time to move on,_ thought Tai. _Next stop. The pyramids. _

16


	39. Chapter 39

Disclaimer: I do not own what I did not create myself.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 38

Fourth Arc: Symphony of thirteen/01

**The Stuff Legends are made of**

Sarah, the author whose Avatar was known as Goldcat, guessed that she shouldn't have been surprised. She still was after a fashion, mostly by the lack of reaction from the other authors, but they must have been expecting it. In fact, had Goldcat taken a moment to think about it, she wouldn't have been that surprised either. In fact, she would have been confident enough to lay money down on this sort of thing happening. Nearby, the Domain Tower that was the center of the FanFic Domain, and the final sight of the battle against the Lord of Fantasy and his D-Letter during the Fable War, stood tall and proud. A giant exclamation point, and was sometimes referred to as such. However, the central apex of the FanFic Domain was not what held Goldcat's attention, nor that of the other authors. What did was an action that was pretty much expected, but only if you knew the history that gave cause for it.

Arc22 plowed into the ground with a crash, the force of the impact digging up a trench as his face met dirt, and though he groaned in pain, his pride as an author refused to let out a cry of pain. In a sense, Arc22 knew that he deserved it anyway. The ground shook as a dark shadow fell over the Avatar as he pulled himself back to his feet, his balance unsteady, but holding. Arc22 looked up into the fierce, cold eyes of one Black WarGreymon.

To recap, the small militia of author Avatars had arrived at the Domain Tower at Arc22's request, mostly because he claimed that they needed him for some, vague reason that, after Digital-Dragon-Master had wrung the details out of him, actually made sense. All they had to do now was convince Black WarGreymon to set aside his own distrust (and his grudge) for the Avatar that had once been the Lord of Fantasy, the author that had betrayed him and left him for dead during the aforementioned Fable War.

Black WarGreymon had never been very big on the philosophy of _forgiving and forgetting_.

Goldcat looked at the other authors with a worried look on her face. They just stood there, not moving a muscle as the viral Mega approached Arc22 with a cold look in his eyes. When they had arrived via a web link, Arc22 had immediately set off towards the Domain Tower, and had told the other authors that under no circumstances were they to interfere with what was about to happen. Goldcat, had been a little clueless at first while Digital-Dragon-Master seemed to acquiesce to Arc22's _request_ without so much as a complaint. Goldcat had been a little bit nervous at first, but had comforted herself with the fact that since Mark was in a different Avatar form, Black WarGreymon had no chance of recognizing him.

That comfort lasted exactly three minutes. Goldcat should have guessed that, thanks to his proximity to the Domain Tower (either that or the bond that he had once shared with the Lord of Fantasy), he could recognize authors no matter what Avatar form that they took, and as soon as he saw Arc22 plodding along in his direction, he plowed into him like a quarterback at the Superbowl. Let the hurtin' commence.

"Well," huffed Arc22 as he dusted off his long, leather trench coat and drew his sword from its scabbard at his waist. "That's a hell of a way to say _hello_."

Black WarGreymon growled at his former master as he continued to draw closer. His black gauntlets were now glowing a fearsome red along the areas where his claws were. Arc22 regarded this event, not taking it as a very good sign.

"I must admit," said Black WarGreymon with a hint of amusement in his voice. "I never expected you to be able to come back to the FanFic Domain, let alone come back just to see _me_."

"Well, I always did hate predictability…"

"ENOUGH!" Shouted Black WarGreymon as he gathered negative energy around him and formed it into a sphere between his gauntlets. Raising his arms above his head, the ball of glowing energy expanded to frightening proportions and the dark Mega warrior hurled it at the former Lord of Fantasy.

**"Terra Destroyer!"**

"Oh, for cryin' out loud…"

Leaping into the air, Arc22 artfully dodged the attack and with a flip he went in at Black WarGreymon with his sword, slashing at him. Black WarGreymon raised his gauntlets and blocked the attack, and then countered by smashing them into his former master, sending him crashing to the earth once more. Arc22 coughed and hacked as he staggered to his feet once again.

_Damn… I'm not used to this form, and I'm out of practice with this Account as well! If I was still able to use my __**Lord of Fantasy**__ profile I'd be able to defeat Black WarGreymon without even breaking a sweat! _

_But then… whose fault is that?_

"Why?"

Arc22 looked up at Black WarGreymon, surprised that the Mega was taking the time to ask him a question.

"Why what? Why am I here? If you'd just listen for a moment then I'd tell you…"

Black WarGreymon howled in frustration and once more ran at Arc22, claws extended. Arc22 ducked, dodged, and otherwise blocked almost every one of the dark hero's attacks with his sword, but the effort left him gasping in exhaustion, that and Black WarGreymon tore a hole in his trench coat with those Dramon destroyers of his. That wasn't too bad though. Arc22 had gotten lucky, having sheered off the spiked tip of Black WarGreymon's right shoulder guard.

Black WarGreymon regarded Arc22 once more, without even so much as a hint of the exhaustion that Arc22 felt at this moment.

"Why?" He asked again, this time with more force to his voice. Arc22 looked Black WarGreymon in the eyes, and understanding finally dawned on him.

"Why did I discard you?"

The Mega's silence and lack of action told him that he had hit right on the money. Arc22 debated as to whether or not he should even give his former servant an answer, but given what he needed from him, and Black WarGreymon's own personal sense of honor, he decided to go with the truth, no matter how much it hurt.

And it would. Plenty.

"You were a template, Black WarGreymon. You aren't even the original Black WarGreymon from the show. Just a _copy_ that I imagined with the express purpose of _removing_ the OC's that had intruded on my story. You were nothing more than a figment. You were only _imagined_…"

_"Imagined?"_ Suddenly, with horrific speed the dark warrior appeared in front of Arc22 and swatted him with one swipe of his clawed gauntlets, sending him sprawling several yards away. Black WarGreymon growled menacingly as he once again advanced on Arc22.

"If I'm just a _figment_ of your imagination, then why do I feel such hatred for you? Such betrayal? Or is that just my imagination too?"

"Beats me," gasped Arc22 harshly as he got back up for what had to be the hundredth time this day. "Reality is what you make of it I suppose, but to me, those authors over there, and to the outside world, you're nothing more than a product of our imagination. No more, no less."

Black WarGreymon raised a claw and pointed it at Arc22.

"Tell me something then," said Black WarGreymon as he once more rushed towards his adversary. _"…Are you __**imagining**__ me?!"_

"Crap…"

* * *

A short ways off, Goldcat noticed that some of the other authors were exchanging money and placing bets.

* * *

Tai looked at the pyramid through his mini-telescope, scooping out the area around the Sphinx that counted as the Digidestined's _base of operations_. Earlier they had come across one of Etemon's _remote data access terminals_ (at least that's what Izzy called it the last time around) where they had made contact with Datamon (and shortly thereafter, TK's crest of Hope). There was some discussion as to whether or not they should go through with this once again, but seeing as how they knew what was coming, and that they might very possibly need that dimensional vortex to get home, it was decided that they would go through it again, and hopefully everything would follow true to form like a summer repeat. But, as Sora pointed out, with Etemon's new power boost, and with Devimon still out there and unaccounted for, nothing could be left to chance. Every possibility had to be taken into consideration. 

One false move, and it was all over.

"Tai?"

The brown haired, goggle boy turned to see Sora and Biyomon approaching him. Tai gave a small smile and nodded an acknowledgement before returning his gaze to the upside down pyramid, still somewhat amazed that the laws of the digital world could warp so much to allow such a structure to exist without crumbling.

"What's up, Sora?"

"I was just wondering… you never talked about what happened to you in that cave that Piximon sent you in, and Piximon doesn't say anything either, but ever since you came back you've been different. Almost like how you were before the Fable War, but it's like you've matured."

Tai just shrugged.

"Just another lesson in riding bikes Sora, that's all. It's nothing important anyway. Not when we've already got more important things to do."

There was a brief silence between them.

"Tai?" Sora asked tentatively, hoping to say something to him, and have him say something in return. Anything.

"How's Biyomon's digivolution?" Asked Tai suddenly. "Any change in her coloring?"

Sora sighed.

"No. Why? Do you think that it will make a difference?"

Tai just shrugged.

"Probably not. Saberdramon's classified as a vaccine type so I doubt that it will matter since Etemon's a virus type. I'd just feel better knowing that Biyomon could digivolve normally."

Sora looked down at the ground while Biyomon looked up at her partner with worried eyes. Memories of what had happened at the Yokomon village flashed through their minds, reminding them of the loss of Biyomon's original champion form of Birdramon. Maybe when they returned to the FanFic Domain that would change, but for now it didn't look like that was likely to happen anytime soon. No matter how much Biyomon tried she still kept digivolving into Saberdramon. And then there was the matter of Patamon not digivolving to Angemon, and Kari and Gatomon…

_We have a long list that we have to go through don't we?_ Thought Sora.

"Okay," said Tai as he turned and went back into the depths of the Sphinx and called out for everyone to stand at attention. Once they did, and Tai had their attention he spoke.

"Does everyone remember their part of the plan?"

Nods all around.

"Yeah," said Izzy. "One group distracts Etemon and his forces while another group sneaks in and reenacts the whole scene with Datamon. Or something like that, though I'm curious as to why Matt, TK, Sora, Mimi, and I are going and why everyone else is going to stay out here and pick a fight with Etemon. Last time it worked out really well."  
"Yeah," said Tai. "But last time we only had a normal Etemon to deal with. Any fight we start with him is going to cause a whole lot more damage, especially if we have to hold him off for any significant amount of time and still be able to survive, so that means Ultimate forms. And as you know, most of our digimon's Ultimate level forms are too big to fit into that Pyramid for close quarter fighting. Lillymon and WereGarurumon are the only ones that are small enough for that kind of thing, and Biyomon can't digivolve to Ultimate yet. If Patamon had digivolved to Angemon already than I'd have him here, but right now I'm thinking that it'd be better if he were with you guys. It's going to get pretty dangerous out here. And yeah, I know MegaKabuterimon's too big for the Pyramid, but you'll be needed to pick out the weak points in the security systems, Izzy, unless someone else here can figure out how to work your computer. Besides, Etemon's the only Ultimate that we have to face anyway."

"So what about us?" Asked Jane, indicating both her and Reno. "Why are we sticking it out with you, and Joe? I mean, he and I have only been able to get our partners up to Champion so I doubt that we'll be able to do much except run interference…"

"That's probably what he has in mind," said Reno.

"Oh."

Tai nodded. "Yeah. Since Joe, Piximon, and I will be the only Ultimates out there we're going to need a little back up. Besides, I have a gut feeling that you two will come in handy."

"Well it's your gut…" said Reno sarcastically.

"Tai," said Matt, looking at his best friend. Tai turned to him. "Are you sure that you don't want to be a part of the infiltration mission? I mean, you _did_ play a pretty big role in it the first time around…"

Tai nodded, smiled humorously and gave his friend the thumbs up.

"Don't worry. I'm positive that you'll be able to fill in for me perfectly. Besides, Etemon and I still have some unfinished business."

"All right," said Matt. "I just hope that everything runs true to form. You forget, that the first time we did this some time passed before we put together a plan to rescue Sora…"

"And that's where negotiation comes in," said Izzy proudly. "Of course, if we had Tai with us I would be confident that we'd convince Datamon to give us Sora's crest and put a virus in Etemon's network. I mean, Tai _is_ supposed to deal with relations between the human and digital worlds. At least that's how he was portrayed at the end of the second season…"

"And with better hair," remarked Mimi. Tai rolled his eyes.

TK laughed.

"Don't worry. I'm sure that everything will all work out. Ha-ha!"

Jane looked at Piximon and raised an eyebrow.

"You've been awfully quite lately. I'm surprised that you don't have anything to say."

Piximon didn't answer right away, but as soon as all eyes were on him he broke his silence.

"I think that I'll go with the others into the Pyramid."

"Wha…?" This from everyone.

"Now hold on," began Tai. "We need some muscle to fight Etemon…"

"And you've got it," said Piximon without missing a beat. "You four and your partners should be enough, but from what I've seen of Datamon you're going to need me there. I'll get him to help us. Yup! Yup!"

"Why don't we have one of the OC's go in with us and use their digivice to restore his memories?" Asked Matt. "Wouldn't he want to help us after that?"

Piximon shook his head.

"Not this Datamon. For one thing he's a _very_ minor character so he's just a creation of this fic instead of you mains and myself."

Matt sighed. "Well so much for that idea…"

"Let's go Digidestined!" Exclaimed Piximon as he flew towards the mouth of the exit, namely the Sphinx's mouth. "The day's not getting any younger and we have a battle to fight! Yup! Yup!"

The Digidestined watched him go for a second before following him.

"Well, here we go again," said Joe. "Bad enough that Piximon's sounding like he's suffering from delusions of grandeur…"

* * *

The sun set over the Domain Tower, heralding the arrival of night time, which was weird seeing as how it was an international website. One would think that it would always be day no matter where you were or what time it was in the FanFic Domain. But then again, one would not like to think about this kind of contradiction (as it would undoubtedly drive their mind insane) so it's generally agreed that no one would wonder about this phenomenon. Some questions are just better off left unasked. 

In the light of the setting sun, Digital-Dragon-Master looked at the bruised and battered forms of Black WarGreymon and Arc22, scowling at both of them as though they were children who had been caught doing something bad. Black WarGreymon just looked back in that nonchalant way of his, indifferent to what the Author Avatar was thinking, while Arc22 copied his attitude, though much more tenderly having just been through a very long and thorough fight with Black WarGreymon, so he was undoubtedly sore from his exertions.

"Sorriest bunch of characters I've ever seen," growled Digital-Dragon-Master in a gruff, parental tone, causing Arc22 to look up at her.

"I'm not a character!"

Digi-Dragon narrowed her eyes at the Avatar.

"Did I give you permission to speak?"

"Hmmmnn…"

Digi-Dragon swept the two of them with a whithering glare once again, while behind her, Goldcat and the other authors looked on in amazement. The battle between Arc22 (the former Lord of Fantasy) and Black WarGreymon had been going on for well over three hours time, with neither side showing any sign of let up. Arc22's idea of _fighting it out of his system_ did not appear to be working with the viral Mega digimon, so even though she had promised not to, Digi-Dragon stepped in and put a halt to the fight, taking a moment to clout the two combatants over the head before beginning the negotiations that would make Black WarGreymon work with them, despite the presence of his former master.

There were still some kinks to work out.

"I don't trust him," growled Black WarGreymon.

"You don't have to," said Digi-Dragon. "I sure don't either so go ahead and not trust him."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," muttered Arc22 sarcastically. Digi-Dragon glared at him once more.

"Shut it you," she said before turning back to Black WarGreymon.

"Look. The main Digimon characters of this site are missing and _he_ thinks that they've been trapped in that glowing Domain Zone up in the sky. Given that it appeared around the same time that they mains vanished, that's enough for me to believe him on. He says that he's got a way to get them out, and for lack of any better ideas I'm willing to give it a try. All we need is you and access to the Domain Tower."

Black WarGreymon's eyes narrowed.

"I will not allow _him_ access to the powers of the Domain Tower."

"Who said anything about giving the _Lord of Fantasy_ access? All you need to do really is let any one of us in and grab what we need from there."

Black WarGreymon looked first at Digi-Dragon, then at Arc22, and then back at Digi-Dragon.

"I don't like this."

"Haven't we been down this road already? Look, I've left a message for the Network Administrators to read once we've gone, so in case anything happens they'll know where our last reported location was and go from there."

"Hmmm…"

Black WarGreymon looked thoughtful as he considered the proposal, and then turned to Arc22, his gaze meeting his former masters.

"Very well," said Black WarGreymon in a sinister voice that caused chills to go down the digital spine of Arc22. "I will go with you and participate in this _plan_ of yours, but let it be known that at the first sign of betrayal I will personally see to your reformatting."

"Get in line," said Digi-Dragon under her breath before speaking up again in a louder voice. "Now that that's been settled we need the Domain Tower to make us a copy of the Grani character from Tamers back when he was just the Arc. Think you can do that?"

"Who says that I have to do anything?" Asked Black WarGreymon mysteriously as he turned towards the Domain Tower, which was now beginning to glow. After a few moments the glow brightened, and then receded, leaving an exact duplicate of the computer program known as Janyu's Arc. The construct that had ferried the Tamers from Season three out of the digital world.

"Of course," said Black WarGreymon. "There have been some modifications to its interior spacing. From what I've been told we're rescuing more than just a few children and digimon…"

Digi-Dragon nodded and smiled.

"It's a start."

* * *

"Here's the rest of my plan for getting into that Domain Zone," said Arc22, pulling out a CD Rom from his leather jacket and presenting it to Black WarGreymon. 

"This is the D-Leter program that I created during the Fable War. Or at least most of it. Some of the data's missing and I don't know where it's gone. Without that data the D-Leter can't take a physical form or utilize its maximum potential. And that's where you come in."

Black WarGreymon waited.

"I need to bond this data code directly into your digi-core in order to use its power. If you're worried about it deleting you…"

"I'm not," said Black WarGreymon simply. Arc22 shrugged.

"Okay, well, in either case, it won't. You'll be able to use D-Leter's data deleting abilities in order to pierce through the layers of defenses in that Domain Zone. There are however some drawbacks to this. First, since you are not the original template for D-Leter, you won't be able to use all of D-Leter's power, and second, once we're inside I don't think that we'll be able to get out, or at least not as easily as we got in. Fortunately I've traced Milleniummon's data to the same Domain Zone, so if we can find him we can use his strength to get out. Understand?"

Black WarGreymon nodded.

"Then do you agree to allow me to download this software into you?"

"Just skip the preliminaries already," growled the dark warrior. "My duty is the protection of the characters on this site, and I must get them out of the clutches of whoever it is that has captured them and bring them back…"

"My. How heroic sounding."

"Just load the program."

Arc22 nodded. "All right. You may want to brace yourself though. The experience may be… _unsettling_."

Black WarGreymon steeled himself as the D-Leter CD broke apart into data shards and floated over to him, and the dark Mega immediately began to absorb the information into himself. Suddenly his eyes widened as a surge of power hit him. Involuntarily words came from his mouth as a new transformation was wrought within him and a light burst around him.

"BLACK WARGREYMON! MODE CHANGE TOOO… CHAOS BLACKWARGREYMON!"

The armor that was on Chaos BlackWarGreymon was similar to that of his previous form, and much of it remained dark in color. The only real difference was the change in coloring on the viruses shoulder guards, faceplate, shin guards, and chest plates, with the chest pate taking on a golden luster while the rest changed to white. The rest of his body though remained black. Once the light died down, Chaos BlackWarGreymon looked over his new form as he felt the raw energy that he had absorbed course throughout his body. Smiling beneath his facemask, Chaos BlackWarGreymon looked at the stunned authors.

"Let's get to work," he said, and with that Chaos BlackWarGreymon leapt into the sky, his body rotating as he aimed at the sphere in the sky.

* * *

Shadow Etemon stood atop his trailer as the Monochromon attached to it raced across the sandy dunes, heading towards the source of missile fire; Ikkakumon. 

**"Harpoon Torpedo!"**

Shadow Etemon growled as the missile impacted with the Monochromon that was at the head of his trailer and sent the trailer reeling to the ground, toppling the so-called _King of Digimon_ off.

"I'm getting' rid of those troublemakers _today!_" Shadow Etemon vowed as he landed on the ground.

* * *

The children walked through the halls of the pyramid, trying not to look worried as the pyramid shuddered under the shockwaves of Ikkakumon's attacks. 

"I sure hope that they'll be okay," said Mimi. "Maybe Palmon and I should have stayed behind."

"No offense Mimi," said Matt. "Or to you Palmon, but Lillymon is only a data type. Her attacks would have the same effect as shooting spit wads at Etemon, especially in his powered up state."

Mimi scowled and crossed her arms.

"Well thanks for the downer…"

"He does have a point Mimi," said Izzy. "Etemon's pretty powerful right now, and our best bet lies in freeing Datamon."

"I guess…" Mimi replied uncertainly. "But didn't Etemon get a power boost when he got sucked into his Dark Network?"

"I hate to admit it," said Sora. "But she _does _have a point…"

"But it's the only way to create that spatial distortion that we need to get home," said Matt.

"We still don't even know if we can get home," replied Sora.

"Would you all be quiet?!" Demanded Piximon. "We _are_ in enemy territory here…"

"Sorry."

The children walked on for a few more minutes before stopping before an electrified fence.

"Here we are," said Izzy, checking out the map on his laptop. "This is the fire wall from the first time. I believe that we can find the entrance over there."

Izzy pointed to an area of the firewall and the children and digimon walked through it, passing through the invisible breach in the security's defenses, and coming across the form of the imprisoned Datamon.

* * *

**"Giga Blaster!"** Shouted Metal Greymon as his metal chest plate opened up and fired twin missiles. Shadow Etemon, their target, simply fired up a dark energy sphere in the palm of his right hand and hurled it at the attack, causing a massive explosion that kicked up a lot of smoke and sand, blinding Metal Greymon. Shadow Etemon however, did not suffer that problem and he burst through the smoke and charged right at the cybernetic saurian, sending him to the ground seconds later with a vicious right hook. Behind Shadow Etemon, a rain of blue fireballs from Rocmon's wings impacted with his skin but did little to harm him. Turning towards his new attacker Shadow Etemon smiled, sunlight reflecting off his shades. 

"You're startin' to annoy me…"

**"Shadow Piercer!"**

"Stay outta this son!" Snorted the dark monkey as he backhanded Lunasmon as he leapt at him from behind. A second later he formed another dark energy sphere in one hand.

**"Dark Network!"**

**"Vulcan's Hammer!"**

"Aw nuts…"

Shadow Etemon's attack was interrupted by the massive, shelled form of Zudomon as he charged at him, hammer raised above his head. With all the strength that he could muster in his arms, the tusked digimon brought the hammer down upon his foe with enough force to shatter mountains. There was a flash of light and a scream of pain, and Shadow Etemon was sent flying through the air, his sunglasses, broken in two pieces, fell off his face as for a brief moment the monkey defied gravity. The look on his face, the look of shock in those surprisingly beady little eyes of his, was absolutely priceless. Soon enough, gravity once again laid claim and he crashed to the ground, sand spraying into the air as he made impact.

"Boy, is he going to be mad," said Joe with a trickle of nerves in his voice.

"You said it," said Tai with the same sound in his own.

"Here's an idea," said Joe. "Why don't we use our digivices to get rid of those Black Gears that are still in him? That would make up for the power difference right?"

Tai took a look at Shadow Etemon before turning back to Joe.

"You wanna try and get close to that guy? At least with Leomon we knew that he'd stop being violent _after_ he was freed from the Black Gears. Etemon's a different story all together!"

"Well, I can't argue with you there…"

Suddenly there was a cry of anguish and black lightning tore across the landscape as Shadow Etemon unleashed his Dark Network attack at full force. Bolts struck each and every digimon, bringing them to the ground and forcing them to reverse digivolve back to their rookie forms. Once the lightning died down Tai took a look around while Joe did a quick body check on himself, surprised that they had not been hit while their partner's got fried. Of course, lightning does have the habit of striking the tallest object but there were enough bolts that the children should have been struck at least once! Oh well…

Shadow Etemon stood triumphant over the fallen digimon, laughing loudly over his swift victory, and the children froze as they realized how stupid they had all been.

_He's been toying with us,_ thought Tai deliriously. _He had more than enough power to take us all on even in our Ultimate forms, and now we just went and made him mad! What were we __**thinking?**_

Shadow Etemon formed a dark colored energy sphere in one hand and leered at Tai.

"Well there son! Not so tough now are ya? Time to eliminate you rotten, good-for-nothin' kids once and for all!"

Reno glared at Shadow Etemon with narrowed eyes as he helped Dagmon back to his feet. He personally was feeling more than a little sick and tired of having to deal with this stupid digimon in a monkey suit. Even though it looked hopeless a fire burned in the boys heart. A fire that refused to accept defeat no matter what, and especially not to Shadow Etemon! Suddenly Reno's D-Comp began to glow, and across from Shadow Etemon Tai's crest began to glow too. Looking down at his D-Comp Reno's eyes widened as he saw the words _Crest function found_ being displayed in a halo circle above the screen. Somehow his D-Comp had tapped into Tai's crest of Courage! But how…? Shaking his head Reno decided that now was not the time to question why, just so long as it gave them an advantage in this fight. With a triumphant smile of his own Reno raised his D-Comp.

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!" He shouted, and a light enveloped both him and his partner, causing Shadow Etemon to pause and take stock of the situation.

"What the…?"

* * *

"So," said Datamon haughtily as he looked at the assembled children and digimon that had the Piximon at their head. "You say that Etemon has received a power boost and that unless I infect his network with a virus program there's no way that he can be defeated? Normally I would discount this kind of information, but because I have access to Etemon's network I happen to know that this is fact." 

"So does that mean that you'll help us?" Asked Sora. "Our friends are out there right now fighting him and we have no way of knowing how long they'll last."

"Of course," said Datamon quickly. "Whatever you want! Just _please_, get me out of here!"

Matt's eyes narrowed. He didn't trust Datamon. Of course, none of the others did either, but they already knew that he planned to try and capture Sora (or at least one of them anyway) so chances were they could avoid it and get Datamon to do what they wanted. Besides, most of them could digivolve to Ultimate so surely there was no trouble right? Looking at the others, Matt saw the same conflicting thoughts running through their minds too, but they each nodded when he looked at them in turn, affirming that they should let Datamon out.

"All right," said Matt. "What do we have to do?"

* * *

"DAGMON! BIOMERGE TOOO… SABREMON!" 

The light of digivolution died down, and in the place of Reno and Dagmon stood a knight in black armor, belts with knife sheaths were slung around his chest and attached to his waist, and in his hands he hefted a notched shield and a sword whose blade was as black as midnight. A symbol of fate was emblazoned upon his shields surface and the dark knight gave Shadow Etemon a cold look. Tai and Joe took an unconscious step backwards at the feeling that they were getting from this new digimon while Jane stared on in amazement. Shadow Etemon however, was not as impressed as the others though.

"What do we got here, sports fans," said Shadow Etemon mockingly. "A new batter steps to the plate! Well come on, let's see what you're made of! **Dark Network!"**

And with that, Shadow Etemon hurled his attack at the dark knight, who simply swung his black sword and cut the attack in two, canceling it out. _Now_ Shadow Etemon was impressed.

"Hey, that was just a joke!"

Sabremon didn't say a word, preferring to let his actions do the talking for him and he leapt at Shadow Etemon, knives from his belt coming out and attaching themselves to the notches in his shield as he powered it up for an attack.

**"Annihilation Shield!"** Sabremon shouted and a beam of pure energy erupted forth, hitting Shadow Etemon square on his now shade-less face, bringing out a roar of pain and anguish from the luckless monkey as the force of the blow knocked him back and dragged him across the ground. Groaning, Shadow Etemon got to his feet and cracked his knuckles.

"I see that I wasn't taking you seriously enough the first time, boy, so I guess it's time that I go all out on you. Uh-huh-huh."

Shadow Etemon and Sabremon both charged at each other, determination blazing in their eyes to be the one to come out on top, no matter what.

No one took notice of the fact that the pyramid was starting to warp.

* * *

Matt bit back a curse as Datamon attacked them, though personally he knew that he shouldn't be surprised at all. Datamon was just in this for revenge, and he didn't care at all to work with mere _humans_ to get what he wanted. 

_So much for 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' philosophy,_ thought Matt bitterly as he gripped his digivice, watching WereGarurumon come up behind the tiny Ultimate. Normally the wolf digimon wouldn't be having any trouble, but they wanted the cybernetic digimon alive in case they could persuade him to do what they wanted. So much for Piximon's negotiation skills. Maybe Tai should have come along after all…

Suddenly space warped in the room and the air tore apart, revealing a hole that immediately blew everyone back. From the hole emerged a strange object that looked like the Arc that the third season characters had taken a ride in, and behind it was…

"Black WarGreymon?" Gasped TK as he took in the situation. Well, it wasn't exactly Black WarGreymon. The coloring on his armor was a little off but for the most part he sure looked like him! The dark Mega took a moment to analyze the situation and then, with blinding speed he rushed towards Datamon, and within the space of a second, the Ultimate was reduced to free floating data shards.

Before any of the Digidestined could get a grip on themselves the Arc settled down in the room and its rear section vanished, revealing the interior (which turned out to be _way_ larger than it should have been, or maybe that was just their imagination), and from it emerged the author Avatar known as Digital-Dragon-Master. Jaws dropped in disbelief, and Digi-Dragon sighed.

"Well, is anyone going to say _hello_? Or are we just going to stare at each other all day?"

Matt suddenly felt that this would be a good time to tell the author about the others outside.

* * *

Shadow Etemon took a swing at Sabremon, only to have his fist smash against the dark knight's shield. A second later, Sabremon brought up his sword and swung with the flat of the blade facing the viral Ultimate, and Shadow Etemon ducked beneath it before delivering a savage uppercut at the knight that would have sent most other digimon flying through the air, but only barely staggered this one. 

"I don't get it," exclaimed the monkey overlord. "Why are you holding back?! This is where you should be attacking me with everything you've got!"

Beneath his mask, Sabremon smiled coldly.

"Why? Do you want me to go all out on you?"

"Uh…"

But before Shadow Etemon could even give a response, there was an explosion from the pyramid. Turning, Shadow Etemon saw what looked like a Black WarGreymon flying at him, claws extended.

"Uh-oh!"

_Black WarGreymon_ tore through Shadow Etemon's body, reducing him to data shards within seconds. Black WarGreymon turned and glared at Sabremon coldly.

"What were you doing? Toying with him?"

"We needed him alive," said Sabremon in the same cold tone as he hefted his sword slightly. "And now you've messed that up…"

"ENOUGH!"

Turning, everyone saw what looked like the third season Arc flying towards them with Saberdramon and Kabuterimon in tow, with what looked like Digital-Dragon-Master and a group of authors along with them. It looked like rescue had arrived after all.

Beneath the sun of the desert of Server, hearts were filled with happiness for the first time in a long while.

* * *

Wow," said Jane as she peered into the Arc. "This place is a lot bigger than I remember it being on TV." 

"It's very elementary, Raven," said Izzy. "It's just four dimensional space folded inside a three dimensional body, giving the Arc added room for the number of people that we have to bring back home."

"Huh," said Jane, a little impressed. "That's cool."

Next to Izzy, Mimi tapped her chin in confusion. "Ummm… I don't get it."

"I'll explain it to you later, Mimi," said Izzy with a small smile on his face.

Mimi giggled.

Meanwhile, a short ways off from the Arc, an author who had identified himself as Arc22 was giving the children a once over, especially Biyomon. His brow was furrowed in concentration.

"I don't get this…" he muttered as Digital-Dragon-Master approached him.

"Don't get what?" The other Avatar asked. Arc22's head snapped up at her question before frowning again.

"It's Biyomon. Somehow she has a fraction of the D-Leter's missing code in her data. Not all of what's missing but it's a piece of it all right."

Digi-Dragon raised an eyebrow as she looked over the pink bird.

"Well I guess that might account a little for that alternate evolution form we saw back at the pyramid. Is it any danger?"

Arc22 shook his head.

"No, I doubt it. Not in a state that's so fragmented. At any rate, I can remove it and add it to Chaos BlackWarGreymon and give him some extra power. It also gives me some hope too…"

Digi-Dragon narrowed her eyes.

"What kind of hope?"

"Well, if some of the D-Leter's data has fallen here, then it stands to reason that the rest should be here as well, scattered about. If we can collect it all, Chaos BlackWarGreymon will have enough power to destroy the defenses of this site and get us out of here. Hopefully."

Biyomon and Sora listened to this conversation with wide eyes and more than a little bit confusion. Biyomon had some of D-Leter's data in her? Neither of them felt at all comfortable with that, but at least it could be removed. For Sora, that wasn't what really got her attention. There was something about this Arc22 that seemed familiar, but from the look of the Avatar she had never seen him before in her life. Shaking her head, Sora set the thought aside for the time being. They were going home… or at least they would once they found the rest of D-Leter's missing information. Sora found it more than a little bit ironic that they were depending on a psychotic, all-destroying program to get them out of this mess.

"Okay," said Digi-Dragon. "Everyone get into the Arc. We'll be taking off soon so that we can rescue Kari and Gatomon, so I want everyone seated and buckled in as soon as possible. And no rough housing, got it?"

There were nods of affirmatives all around and the Digidestined began to get into the Arc. Digital-Dragon-Master turned back to Arc22 and dropped her voice's volume a pitch.

"What about the other seasons? How are we going to get to them?"

Arc22 looked at the dragon like authoress.

"Simple. In every story there are going to be inconsistencies in them. Weak points that we, as authors can critique once we notice them. Call them _Plot Holes_ if you will, but by whatever name we can use them once we find them to travel between the stories. I'm certain that the same holds true for here as it did back in the FanFic Domain, so it's certain to be a simple task. After all, we _are_ authors aren't we?"

_Except you,_ thought Digital-Dragon-Master, but she didn't mention it. He needed no reminding. Digi-Dragon just nodded and together they turned and headed for the Arc.

Devimon watched the strange vehicle as it took to the air and headed off with the strange Black WarGreymon following behind it. Why a son of darkness would be aiding the Digidestined he did not know but…

Devimon suddenly gave a cry of pain as he felt a strange, unidentifiable presence force its way into his mind, tearing through his defenses as though it were wet toilet paper. A dark shadow surrounded the demonic digimon and seconds later, Devimon's form was reshaped into something new, but similar to his old appearance. His claws and arms were now encased in metallic armor, cruel and vicious in appearance and his main body looked like the carapace of some insect. His wings, while not changing much lost the holes that had once left them in tatters. Now they were strong and whole once more, able to bear any kind of punishment that the world had to offer. His head lost its horns and his face stretched slightly as his mask changed, becoming more like the Demon Lord Beelzemon in appearance, and his eyes glowed with an eerie red light that was like blood.

Once the transformation was complete, the new entity that had once been the evil digimon known as Devimon reared back and let loose a hideous laugh, crowing the sound to the heavens. He looked in the direction that the Arc had went and smiled.

_Let them leave. They may think that they've escaped, but in the end they will be mine, as they __**should **__have been in the beginning! But I will need a stronger vessel than this pathetic fool to ensure this, especially if I'm to contend with Black WarGreymon's upgrade. Fortunately I know where to get one. It's a ways off to be sure, but the rewards will be worth the effort. _

_After all… nothing less is worthy of…_

_The Lord of Fantasy…_

_

* * *

_A/N: Sorry for the unusually long wait, but this chapter kept giving me problems. Not that I had writers bloc or anything, I had everything planned in advance for this chapter, it's just I've been feeling pretty run down lately, which serves as a pretty good deterent to creativity, so I apologize if this chapter isn't up to specks (personally I felt that it was rushed around the end). Furthermore, I'd like to say that I won't be detailing the rescue of Kari and Gatomon. Sorry if anyone was hoping for that, but this part of the Arc was more about Tai's recovery from his depression and the author's as they laid out their plans to rescue the characters. Kari's rescue isn't integral to the overall storyline. Anyway, I'm going to take a brief break from this fic so that I can plan out the next part of this Arc, 02 (which will have a couple scenes that I'm especially looking forward to writing. Heh, heh) and get some work done on 'Song of the Setting Sun'. That, and I've recently got some inspiration for one of my projects that have been in the planning for a while so I'd also like to do some work with that. Anyway, 'till next time. Later. 

-Crazyeight

17


	40. Chapter 40

Disclaimer: We _ALREADY_ know that I don't own a single thing involved with Digimon!

The Four Seasons: Chapter 39

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen/02

**Not Your Average Summer Repeat**: Part 1

Slowly, very slowly, Chris emerged from his slumber, an intensive feeling of exhaustion filling his limbs. Flexing his fingers, Chris clawed at the stone cold floor that he was laying on and groaned, pushing upwards with his arms as he tried to get into a kneeling position. He made it at least as far up as half a foot before his trembling arms gave out beneath him and he collapsed back to the ground, confirming to him once more that he was laying on stone, or rather, a cave. Opening his eyes, Chris took a look around him, taking stock of his situation and trying to sort through the mess that he called his memories. His mind was feeling a little bit foggy for some reason…

Shifting his eyes ahead of him he saw that he was lying near what looked like the entrance to a cave, clouds floating by at a fairly rapid pace while the sound of what could have been an engine humming reached his ears. Chris, for the most part, disregarded the sound of the engine and focused his attention back on his memories, and closed his eyes, furrowing his brow in concentration.

_Okay…_ thought Chris. _Let's recap. Fanfic Domain… Ryan and I got an invite to a cruise ship taking us down to a vacation fic… got dragged into being Ashley's personal bag carriers… I was watching Tai and Taichi play pool in the characters lounge… huge storm… lots of lightning… control spires and… and… CARAMON!_

Chris's eyes widened and once more he struggled to get to his feet, and this time succeeded, though the effort left him breathing heavily and leaning against the cave's wall. A strange feeling of being in motion came over him but he pushed it aside for the time being, shrugging it off as simple nausea from… whatever it was that had hit him.

_Just what was it, anyway?_ Thought Chris as he tried to process the rest of his memories. From Caramon getting shackled once again with a dark ring, to the Digimon Emperor's interrogations, and finally to Wormmon breaking him out and leading him down to this cave where… once again Chris was confronted with that unknowable event that had left him screaming and then unconscious. Looking around, Chris found that he was unable to find his apparent rescuer, Wormmon. His lack of being in a prison led Chris to believe that whatever it was that had happened was not a trap, but Wormmon's absence worried him. It wasn't like him to just up and abandon him unless he decided it was best to have him camp out here or something.

_Well… maybe Ken called him away and he had no choice but to leave me here. I'm positive that my __**absence**__ didn't go unnoticed…_

Suddenly Chris keeled over as a wave of dizziness hit him, and a second later a hot, steaming stream of vomit made its way out of his stomach and stained the ground beneath him. As he opened his eyes, wincing at the mess he made, he caught a flicker of motion to his right… no, correction. The motion was coming _from _his right hand. As Chris's eyes widened in surprise, he took note of the fact that, unless his eyes were playing tricks on him, his right hand was flickering in and out of existence, as though it were having a difficult time trying to hold onto itself. After another moment, his hand settled down and returned to its usual appearance.

_What the heck just __**happened**__ here?!?!_

Realizing that he wasn't going to be getting any answers by just staying where he was, Chris got back to his feet and headed towards the exit. Once more he felt as though he were in motion and this time Chris took note of it. He made another observation as well…

_That's weird,_ thought Chris. _I could have sworn that I saw the horizon line from where I was before I passed out._

Chris drew closer to the exit and finally the ground came into view. A hilltop, some pine trees… Chris frowned. Something was very wrong here. For one thing, they were moving. It was almost as if they were passing by them or…

Chris's eyes widened as something clicked in his mind.

_It's official,_ thought the blonde haired, blue-eyed boy as he mentally berated himself for not realizing this sooner. _I am __**such**__ a moron!_

Chris now understood why the trees and hilltop were moving.

Ken's base was flying.

* * *

Ken watched the main viewer screen with a small smirk on his face as his base closed in on its next target. He thought back to his most recent conflicts with the Digidestined, and his smile widened. They had been completely caught unawares by his use of Ultimate level digimon, and they had barely escaped his clutches when they found that their pack of Armor level digimon were no match. How it was they had escaped Andromon in that pitched battle still annoyed him. He didn't think that the Pegasusmon would get lucky with one of his attacks and destroy the control spire that he had set up in that area and affectively shut down all the Guardromon that were in that bubble machine city. Motionless, the Guardromon proved to be an excellent deterrent for the mighty Ultimate, preventing him from bringing all of his strength to bear on the annoying children. It was fortunate that due to Andromon's strength, and the increased durability of Ken's new Dark Spiral, the children were forced to retreat without really accomplishing anything. A draw, but one that the Digimon Emperor could still take as a victory anyway. After all, he came out of it with more than the Digidestined did. 

Of course, the discovery of the new digi-egg, the one emblazoned with the so-called _Crest of Friendship_ was an interesting development, but didn't really change things much in the long run. The new Armor digimon, Raidramon was still no match for the Emperor's new Ultimate level servants.

And those servants were increasing in number as time went on.

Ken smiled, and briefly wondered what it would take to enslave a Mega. Well, perhaps he wasn't ready for that. If the Dark Ring couldn't control Ultimates, then there was little hope of a Spiral controlling a Mega, and the last thing that he needed was an out of control Mega digimon. That would not do well for the Digimon Emperor. Not well at all. Not if half of what he heard about that level was true.

Ken pulled up a program file and opened it, gazing at its contents one more time before closing it. He was so close to finishing his greatest project. All it was missing was one thing… a power source from the Dark Area. Once he had acquired that, then his project could finally be born and the entire digital world would tremble at his feet.

At the feet of the Digimon Emperor… and Project _Kimera_.

Ken's evil laughter echoed throughout his chamber, and over in a corner, Wormmon trembled.

* * *

Kaio slowly awoke, her eyes fluttering briefly as she blinked at the bright day light that assaulted them. With a groan Kaio sat up and took a look around. Her partner, Arbomon, lay next to her, snoring away, completely intent with just lying where she was like a regular cat. How typical… 

"Took you long enough," said Arbomon in an annoyed tone, and Kaio's eyes widened in surprise.

"Wha…? You were already awake?"

Arbomon nodded.

"Yep. You really are a sleepyhead you know that? Didn't even respond to my shaking you."

Kaio narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to the side.

"So… what? When you found that you couldn't get me to wake up you… just laid down and took a cat nap?"

Arbomon just licked her paw absently.

"Well, I could tell that you were fine. Just unconscious, so it's not like you were in any immediate danger…"

"Since when could you tell that? I didn't think that you even _knew_ something about first aid skills!"

"You know, instead of shouting at me we could be trying to figure out what had happened to us, hook up with the rest of the Digidestined, and then continue with trying to find Chris…"

Kaio growled at her partner and stood up, giving the feline a _very_ dark glare.

"Fine. But the second that we have some free time you and I are going to have a talk…"

The sound of an explosion off in the distance caught both of their attention.

"Does it seem like there's never a dull moment in the digital world?" Asked Arbomon sarcastically.

"Oh hush," Kaio said flatly.

* * *

A second later, Kaio had armor digivolved Arbomon to Harinmon and after climbing aboard; the bull digimon took off, heading in the direction of the noise that they had heard. That, and the very obvious smoke that was billowing up off in the distance sort of made it obvious as to where to go. After all, where there's smoke, there's fire. Or a raging digimon… 

As if to drive the point home, there was a flash of fire followed by yet another sound of something exploding and the amount of smoke that was rising in the air increased. This time Kaio was able to more easily identify the noise as an explosive of some type. Something big was going down in the distance, and that might mean either Digidestined or the Digimon Emperor. Either way, Kaio would come out as a winner if it meant getting a lead on where Chris was.

Reaching into her deck box, Kaio pulled out a card and looked down at her partner.

"You ready for a change of pace, Harinmon?"

"I would imagine that would be the most logical step," grated Harinmon as her hooves slammed into the earth repeatedly. A second later Harinmon burst forward with a sudden rush of speed. Kaio let loose a whoop of joy.

* * *

Hikari had been trying to fight the sensation that something was calling to her, and had confided into Davis about it. He had expressed some worry over it, and told her that he'd be by her side no matter what to help her. An easily accomplished task since he sat next to her in class and they always went to lunch together… 

It was just, Hikari had the strangest feeling that Davis's courage wouldn't be enough to keep her from resisting whatever it was that she felt was calling to her. Maybe she should just give in… see what it wants. Get it over with. She wasn't strong like her brother Tai was, or Davis for that matter, no matter how much she wished it to be so.

The sound of an oceans waves beating upon a shore came to her ears, and darkness surrounded her on all sides. Hikari felt as though she were slipping through the barriers between the worlds… slipping… _slipping…

* * *

_

Davis sighed as he thought about the things that Hikari and Gatomon had told him. It just didn't make any sense, although to be honest, he didn't know where exactly to begin with the list of what it was that he didn't understand. The whole thing just didn't make any sense.

_Why would Hikari feel as though something was calling to her? And where's it coming from? Is it from the digital world? What would the digital world want with Hikari?_

Turning to look at the _light _of his life, Davis's jaw dropped as he saw that the form of Tai's sister was fading, turning into television static.

_"The beach…" _he heard her whisper, and then she was gone.

"HIKARI!" Davis shouted as he surged to his feet. The whole class turned and looked first at Davis, and then at Hikari's empty seat.

The silence was deafening?

_Oh man… how am I going to explain this?_

Davis realized that the question had just become moot, and his next worry was where he was going to find Hikari and rescue her from wherever she had gone.

* * *

Hikari opened her eyes to a world of shadows and darkness. A lighthouse stood a ways off, a beam of darkness emitting from its top, aimed outwards towards the vast ocean that lay before her, its immensity feeling to her like it was a living presence of its own, watching her. Hikari looked back at the lighthouse as it fired off another beam of dark light. 

_More like a __**darkhouse**_ Hikari thought as she turned around. She was about to begin walking down the beach when she noticed that there was something on the beach with her, and she immediately fell backwards, her eyes growing wide with fear as a gasp escaped her mouth.

It was a tall creature, most likely a digimon, as that had been the only otherworldly creature that she had had experience with. Its head was shaped like an octopus, and its arms and legs looked like multiple tentacles having been tied together to serve as singular arms and legs. Twin golden rings similar to Gatomon's Tail Ring, were worn on one multi-tentacle ankle, and from the creatures back sprouted two bat-like wings. A lower jaw protruded from the octopus like head, and two, glaring eyes focused on her, examining her, almost _judging _her.

The creature spoke.

"Yes. You are the one. The _Child of Light_ has arrived in the world of darkness. It is time for the truth to be told, and for you to be made aware of what is _really_ going on here…"

Hikari sat on the gray sand, transfixed by the massive being that towered over her. After a few moments, she finally managed to collect herself enough to say something.

"W-who are you?"

A low, hollow sounding chuckle emerged from the being.

"Don't remember, eh? Of course not. I, my dear child of the Light, am Dragomon. Dragomon of the Dark Ocean."

For some reason the name of the _Dark Ocean_ filled Hikari with dread.

* * *

Kaio coughed as she hopped off of Harinmon's back. The smoke was everywhere, obscuring the digimon that was leveling the town around them. Low-level digimon scurried about in a reckless fashion, trying to flee to safety, but seemingly to no avail. Kaio had no idea as to how long this had been going on, but it seemed to be a safe bet that it had to be fairly recent or else the citizens would have long left by now. That is, unless they were trying to defend the place still. 

**"Fungus Crusher!"**

Looking up at the sound of the attack, Kaio saw a bunch of Mushroomon tossing their signature attack at whatever foe it was that was bombarding the area.

_They always were the type to get into a fight, even if they were outclassed,_ thought Kaio as a roar of anguish reached her ears. _Okay… __**that's**__ probably whatever digimon is…_

**"Arsenal Barrage!"**

Without warning, a series of missiles tore through the smoke, streaking downwards and detonated on the building that the Mushroomon were standing on. Debris flew in all directions and Harinmon leapt forward to shield Kaio from harm. Kaio, in the meantime, having heard the attack, had now deduced the identity of the attacker and was already drawing a card from her deck box.

"Harinmon? De-digivolve," ordered Kaio. Harinmon gave Kaio a questioning look but immediately obeyed, and the energy of the Digi-egg of knowledge was absorbed by Kaio's D-Arc.

The sound of engines and the sound of something heavy landing on the ground came to both of their ears. Arbomon looked at Kaio worriedly before positioning herself as the closest available target for whatever it was that was out there. Kaio raised the card to her D-Arc and held it there, smiling at it as she once more took note of its name. This card would put them on even level with their opponent.

A gust of wind blew the smoke away, and Metal Dracaramon lost his cover. The cybernetic reptile leapt towards the pair, snarling at them and red eyes glowing. Kaio slid the card through her digivice.

"DIGI-MODIFY! DIGI-EGG OF FATE ACTIVATE!"

Arbomon was suddenly lifted into the air as golden energy shot out of Kaio's D-Arc and connected with her. Involuntarily, words emerged from her lips.

"ARBOMON, GOLDEN ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOOO… RITSANEMON!"

* * *

A/N: This chapter was considerably shorter than the previous four installments, mostly so as to 'get me back into the swing of things' and to set the tone for how I'm going to handle this part of the arc. Chapter length will vary depending on the episodes that I go through to work with 02, and the same goes for the number of chapters as well. I'll also be alternating between this fic and 'Hazard's Sorrow' as the inspiration comes to me, but basically, this fic is up and running again after a… what? An almost two week hiatus? (Shrugs) Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Later. 

-Crazyeight

* * *

7 


	41. Chapter 41

Disclaimer: Nope.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 40

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen/02

**Not Your Average Summer Repeat**: Part 2

"ARBOMON, GOLDEN ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOOO… RITSANEMON!"

The golden light that had been emanating from Arbomon's form died down, the feline having now been replaced by the tall form of the armored, monkey digimon known as Ritsanemon standing proudly on her hand like feet. Violet colored armor covered most of Ritsanemon's body, with the exception of white tufts of fur that poked through the cracks in her armor and tail, which lacked such protection. Staring at Metal Dracaramon through her helmets eyeholes with her emerald, pupil-less eyes, the monkey digimon's tail twitched back and forth as the Golden Armor digimon and the Ultimate cyborg stared each other down. A gust of wind blew between them, and as if there was a hidden signal, Metal Dracaramon's twin, shoulder mounted laser cannons swiveled to sight on Violet armored warrior.

**"Simian Srike!"**

Ritsanemon leapt into the air, becoming little more than a purple blue, screeching at the top of her lungs, and Metal Dracaramon suddenly found himself being bombarded by a series of violet energy blasts. With a howl, Metal Dracaramon jumped backwards, firing his energy cannons at Ritsanemon to cover his retreat, snarling as the simian digimon somersaulted in the air, landing back on the ground before leaping away again, continuing her barrage of attacks. Grunting as the Ultimate was forced to the ground, his cybernetic eyes tried to track the Armor digimon, but her speed made it such that it was almost impossible to focus on her. Suddenly there was the sound of creaking wood, and Metal Dracaramon turned just in time to see Ritsanemon wrap her white furred tail around a fallen support beam and bring it down on his armored skull. With a howl of pain, hidden compartments popped open all over Metal Dracaramon's body and unleashed a salvo of missiles, each of them aiming at Ritsanemon's armored form with deadly accuracy, and she had no time to dodge the attack.

Fortunately, that was what Kaio was there for.

Kaio slashed a card through her D-Arc at the exact moment that the missiles impacted with the seemingly luckless monkey, kicking up a cloud of smoke and fire that was immediately blown apart as Ritsanemon rushed forwards, holding the segmented pieces belonging to the famous Brave Shield of WarGreymon. Quickly leaping up into the air once more, Ritsanemon let loose a ferocious scream and bombarded Metal Dracaramon with more violet energy blasts, this time taking aim at the Dark Spiral that was wrapped around Metal Dracaramon's front right leg, but Metal Dracaramon's jumping out of the way and firing another round of laser and missile blasts foiled that idea. Slashing an Aero Wing card and a High Speed card a second later to give her partner aerial maneuverability, Kaio dug through her deck, looking for something to give her partner an added advantage. For the moment, Ritsanemon was holding her own, dodging every one of Metal Dracaramon's energy and missile attacks, but she couldn't expect to keep that up forever. With the Golden Digi-egg of Miracles giving Arbomon the power of an Ultimate, combined with the fact that she shared the same attribute with her opponent, they were basically stalemated. But with Metal Dracaramon's higher destructive power and resilience, this Mexican Standoff couldn't be expected to last forever.

_Let's see… Metal Dracaramon's a Vaccine, so that means that I'd need a Data type attack to have any serious effect against him. Agumon… no. Greymon… no. Snimon… get real. Gorillamon… Ah, here we go!_

As Kaio pulled out the appropriate card, Metal Dracaramon leapt at Ritsanemon with a snarl, only to completely miss the Armor digimon as she jumped out of the way, his own forward momentum carrying him through the remains of some poor digimon's home. A second later, Ritsanemon fired a blast of energy at the house, causing a few support beams to cave in and igniting the wood. With a howl, Metal Dracaramon blasted open a hole and jumped out, glaring at Ritsanemon who was snickering at the Ultimate.

"Hope you wiped your feet dear," she chuckled before somersaulting into the air, dodging a missile as it shot out of one of Metal Dracaramon's hidden compartments and exploded where Ritsanemon had stood.

_I just hope that they're ensured,_ thought Kaio as she swiped the Gorillamon card through her D-Arc, and a huge cannon formed on Ritsanemon's right arm. Instinctively knowing what her partner wanted, Ritsanemon took aim at Metal Dracaramon and fired away, forcing Metal Dracaramon to once more dodge the attack, and then continue to do so as Ritsanemon kept up the barrage and began to close in on the Utimate, aiming more towards the ground so as to kick up smoke and dust to blind her opponent.

**"Laser Discharge!"**

Suddenly, a pair of green energy blasts erupted from the smoke and impacted Ritsanemon's form, sending her to the ground.

_Stupid,_ Ritsanemon berated herself._ Forgot. He's a __**cyborg**__, duh! He's probably got sensors to compensate for any loss of visual. Idiot!_

Before Ritsanemon could continue with insulting herself, Metal Dracaramon's massive, cybernetic form surged towards her, a low growl emanating from his mouth as he came closer. The cannons on his back glowed green as they powered up.

* * *

"HIKARI!" Shouted Davis as he ran out of the classroom, not even hearing the surprised shout of his teacher as she yelled after him to get back to his desk. His first objective was the computer room. He was certain that she had gone to the digital world somehow, slipping through a gateway though how one had pulled her through in the middle of class was beyond him. That was the sort of thing that he left to professors, scientists, and Izzy. 

_She told me that it felt like something was calling out to her,_ thought Davis as he rounded a corner. _If that's true, then could it be possible that someone or something from the digital world was zeroing in on her? And why? Could Ken be behind this? He is smart enough for it…_

The sound of running feet reached the goggle wearing Digi-destined's ears, and for a second he thought that it was the teacher catching up to him. With a near panicked look on his face he turned to see his pursuer…

Only to be relieved to find that it was Takeru that had been running after him.

With a smile, Takeru reached out and grabbed Davis by the shoulder and steered him away from the computer lab and towards the stairs, and together they both began to run down them, with Davis fixing the blue-eyed, blonde haired boy with a confused look.

"TP? Wha…?"

"If you were thinking about the digital world, you won't find her there," said Takeru as he held tight onto Davis. The two boys reached the end of the stairs and began running towards the school exit, but Davis put a halt to it, forcing his legs to stop and making Takeru stop with him.

"What're you talking about?" Demanded Davis. "What do you mean that I won't find her in the digital world? Where else could she have gone?"

Takeru glared at Davis.

"Don't ask me how I know," Takeru said. "I just… can't help but feel as if I know where she's gone. Kind of like déjà vu."

Davis nodded carefully. He understood where Takeru was coming from. Ever since those two kids, Kaio and that other kid that had been captured by the Digimon Emperor, had shown up, that sort of thing had been popping up more regularly. It was what helped Taichi stop Ken from taking over Agumon, and enabled them to find ways to compensate for the sudden arrival of the Dark Spirals and Ken's new army of Ultimate level digimon. It was tough, but they were hanging in there. And where had Kaio disappeared to anyway? Captured by the Digimon Emperor no doubt…

"Okay," said Davis, deciding to trust his friend. "Where do we go then? The only place that I know is the digital world so…"

Davis squawked as Takeru pulled him forward and began to sprint towards the doors.

"I heard her say something about _the beach_ right before she disappeared," said Takeru. "Maybe there's a clue in that, so that's as good a place as any to start."

Davis almost felt like tearing his arm away from Takeru. It didn't make any sense to go to a beach to find someone who may have been taken to the digital world, and the way Takeru usually acted around him and Hikari… but no. Something in Davis's heart told him that Takeru was in the right about this, and no matter what, if anything was certain in Davis's life, it was his trust in his instincts.

Soon Davis's legs picked up the slack, allowing Takeru to let go of his arm, and together the two friends and fellow Digi-destined burst forth through the doors of their school, heading towards the closest available beach.

* * *

Sitting at the window in the computer lab, Demiveemon stretched and yawned, nearly falling off while next to him, Gatomon and Patamon laughed at the In-training's antics. Demiveemon frowned at them, but before he could come up with a comment, some motion caught his eye. Turning, he saw TK and Davis taking off of the school grounds. 

"Hey. Why are Davis and Takeru leaving?"

Gatomon and Patamon looked at him in confusion before following his gaze, their eyes widening and jaws dropping in disbelief.

"I didn't hear the bell," said Patamon. "And Takeru didn't say anything about school ending early. I wonder what's up?"

With that, Patamon began flapping his wings and he flew up to one of the window latches and began to struggle with it, grunting and straining to open it, and Demiveemon quickly joined him to help him out. Gatomon moved to do likewise, but for a moment she paused to watch the two Digi-destined as they raced out of the school gates, her eyes narrowing in thought, wondering what could possibly cause them to take off like this. She wondered if Hikari knew what was going on, since she shared the same class with the two boys, but she had been feeling very much out of sorts lately…

Gatomon's eyes widened in shock as a thought suddenly occurred to her. On reflex, and out of a desire to protect her human partner at all costs, Gatomon pulled her right paw back and aimed it at the window. A second later there was the sound of glass shattering, and Patamon and Demiveemon watched in stunned surprise as Gatomon jumped out of the window.

Patamon turned to the small, blue colored digimon that was his friend.

"Oooh… Hikari's going to be mad…"

"The Principal too, I'll bet," said Demiveemon in agreement, and with that the two digimon followed Gatomon out of the window.

* * *

Hikari stared at Dragomon, trying to speak, but unable to. Words failed her in fact as a nameless fear began to settle over her, blanketing her mind. Dragomon took notice of this, and his mouth curved into what could be loosely called a smile. Tough to say since his jaw mostly seemed to hang there but there it was nonetheless. Dragomon rose to his full height as he stared down at the Digi-destined of light. 

"Hikari Yagami," spoke the Undersea Master of the Dark Ocean. "Rest assured that I have not brought you here to be destroyed. I have transported you here because first, the script demands it, and second, the author's eyes are elsewhere and are otherwise occupied, giving me some measure of liberty and movement. That's what happens when you're such a minor character like I am." Dragomon shrugged. "So much easier to use and control in a story, but even easier to retain your true memories because your character is so underdeveloped. You'd think that would mean I'd be more likely to not have my memories since I'm more open to being shaped and developed, but I'm a bad guy who only makes one appearance. More like a silhouette but that's besides the point." While Dragomon continued to rattle on, Hikari began to feel at ease. Well, about as easy as one can around a giant squid like monster that looked like it had come out of an H.P. Lovecraft story but that's something else all together. Besides, Hikari was used to this sort of thing. As her fear receded, Hikari began to listen closely to Dragomon's words, though she had to admit that she didn't understand a single thing that he was saying, and she soon admitted as much to the Ultimate level digimon.

Dragomon nodded.

"Like I said, I expected as much. But I'll try to enlighten you, and so long as the writers don't focus on this story too much, that's what I'll do. Don't worry though, your rescuers should show up soon in case things go… _awry_. But I wouldn't worry too much."

Hikari blinked in utter confusion, but waited for Dragomon to continue.

"Something has happened, and things have been changed. You see, back where we all come from, you, me, everyone, there is an understanding of what passes for _real_, or _canon_ as we usually call it, events. Events that have already come to pass and normally wouldn't and couldn't be altered. However, someone felt that they were unhappy with the way things turned out and _appropriated _those who were necessary for those events and change things to their own liking. That person failed of course, but his actions made it possible for others to pick up where he left off. You and your friends, your memories have been altered to fit the new course of events. Mine as well, and I only remember because I'm not as important. That and, like I said, their eyes aren't focused on me so much, so I can mask my thoughts more easily than you and the Digi-destined.

"There were some though, that made the transition without having their memories altered. You and your brother have already met two of them I believe…"

Hikari's eyes widened.

"Kaio," she whispered. Dragomon nodded.

"Kaio, Chris, and more though they are… _elsewhere_ at the moment. Things haven't changed for them because they were never a part of your story, but got picked up anyway. They all just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, at least from the Trinity's perspective."

"I don't understand," said Hikari, finally finding her voice. "What's going on? What do you mean by how you're a _minor character_? And what…" Hikari paused as she searched her memory for the term. "What do you mean by authors?"

"There's a lot that you won't be able to understand or accept at this moment," said Dragomon. "Far too much, and unfortunately I don't have the time to explain it all. Your two friends will be arriving here soon, and once that happens the script will kick back in. I've been resisting it thus far, but just being near you… it's tearing me apart. I won't be able to resist it forever…"

_Just like that OC in the Tamer's continuity,_ thought Dragomon, almost feeling pity for the poor character, but he pushed the thought aside.

"But if you really want to know, ask Kaio or Chris when you see them again. In fact, it would be best if you held their versions of your digivices. The experience would be quite… _educational_."

Hikari cocked an eyebrow, while behind her a light began to burst forth from out of the darkness.

* * *

Davis and TK ran onto the beach, pausing only when they heard the cries of their digimon partners as they pursued them, Gatomon in the lead. After some brief explanations (the digimon omitting the fact that Gatomon had busted a window in her pursuit of the two boys), they returned to combing the beach for any sign of Hikari. After a while Davis was starting to believe that they were wasting their time. 

"This is hopeless," said Davis. "We'll never find her this way. Are you sure about this Takeru?"

Takeru glared at Davis. "Giving up already? That's not like you, Davis. I thought that you would at least keep looking until your feet fell off, and even after that."

Davis scowled.

"I never said that I was _quitting_ CQ! I'm just saying that the way that we're going about things right now is…"

Davis stopped as he noticed something near the end of the beach and TK, having noticed that Davis's attention was diverted elsewhere, followed his gaze, his eyes growing wide as he saw what Davis had seen. It looked like… _Hikari_! She had her arms outstretched towards them, as though she were beckoning the two Digidestined to save her. Without thinking, without questioning, Davis and TK both ran towards the glowing image of Hikari, the three digimon behind them quickly pursuing them.

"Oh what the heck," muttered Gatomon. "I've got nine lives…"

All five destined beings leapt towards Hikari, their forms fading in and out for a couple seconds before vanishing all together.

* * *

Dragomon noticed the light behind Hikari, and began to move off towards the Dark Ocean. 

"Wha…?" Began Hikari. "Where are you going?"

"You're friends are approaching," said Dragomon lowly as he began to submerge himself beneath the water's depths. "If I'm still here when they appear, the script will force me to attack them, and as they are right now I will undoubtedly destroy them. I was not meant to be on the beach when you appeared you see…"

"But you still have to tell me about what all this is about! Why is this happening? WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

_"This is about what it's always been about,"_ said Dragomon as his form vanished into the mists. _"The story of a person's heart…and those who refuse to let the tale end…"_

Hikari blinked. Unsure what to make of that, but Dragomon was gone now. The light behind her grew brighter, and Hikari turned towards it, protecting her eyes from its intensity until it finally died down, revealing the forms of Davis, Takeru, Patamon, Veemon, and Gatomon, all looking worriedly at her. Taking one last look at the Dark Ocean behind her, Hikari wondered how she was going to explain this to them.

* * *

"DIGI-MODIFY! CLONE ACTIVATE!" 

Metal Dracaramon's lasers hit Ritsanemon, and her body exploded into data. Only it wasn't the real Ritsanemon. Before Metal Dracaramon could even react, the real Ritsanemon leapt out of the shadows at high speed, delivering a crushing downward kick on Metal Dracaramon's skull, and then sweeping him off his feet with her tail, exposing the Dark Spiral for all to see.

"Gotcha," whispered Ritsanemon triumphantly right before she fired a purple energy blast at the spiral at point blank range. The spiral shattered from the force of the attack, and a glow formed around Metal Dracaramon's body and he reverted back to his rookie form of Caramon, dropping to the ground in exhaustion.

Ritsanemon carefully picked the little lizard up and looked at her partner.

"Nice save," said the Armored digimon, smiling beneath her helmet.

"I'll say. It's a good thing that we're fan fiction characters, 'cause I didn't really know if this card would even work on you."

Ritsanemon's right eye twitched irritably.

"You used a card on me without knowing if it would _work_?"

"Hey! Don't get angry with me! I look at this card and all I see is Japanese okay? I can't read that! I can only go by what I see in the show…"

"Oh terrific…"

"Don't complain," said Kaio, fixing her partner with a glare. "Now come on. We should probably try hooking up with the Digi-destined now and see if they know what it was that just happened to us."

Ritsanemon nodded and together, the two of them, plus one rookie, left the smoking ruins of the digimon village. A second later, Kaio broke the silence.

"By the way, I thought that Golden Armor digimon wore golden armor instead of purple."

"Maildramon comes from Gatomon and the Digi-egg of miracles and _she's_ not wearing golden armor. Besides, I like purple…"

"Okay, okay. Take it easy…"

* * *

Ken had watched the battle on his monitor, processing this latest development. Getting up from his seat, Ken left the control room. Having witnessed this new power of that strange Digi-destined, it would seem that he was going to have to unleash his Kimera project much sooner than he had anticipated.

* * *

8 


	42. Chapter 42

Disclaimer: N-O. I don't own Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 41

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen/02

**Not Your Average Summer Repeat**: Part 3

What seems to be a common sight in the digital world, no matter what season you are in, is the excessive amount of sunlight that shines down on the world, regardless of whether or not there is a sun in the sky to create that light. Of course, who wants an excessive amount of clouds blocking out the light and making everyone feel depressed? Weather does help with setting a mood, and this is usually why bad guys are normally preceded by the appearance of night, shadows, and thunderstorms of various types and descriptions. Even something as subtle as a cloud passing by can tell a tale or give warning if fate, or the author, is having a good day and decides to give a character a chance. This kind of control tends to makes characters uncomfortable, but given the kinds of things that they're normally used to prior to becoming a part of fan fiction they have learned to accept that sort of thing and live their lives as best as they can.

One person is about to get a taste of how the other half lives.

Dean looked up at the sun filled sky of what was most decidedly the Frontier universe, a cloud drifting by it and blotting it out for a brief second. A shiver traveled down Dean's spine.

_My author sense is tingling…_ thought Dean as he scratched his chin in confusion, a feeling of unease working its way into his heart like some deadly poison.

The sound of something whistling through the air caught Dean's attention and he dove to the side, barely avoiding the extremely large sword blade that neatly clipped a couple strands of hair from off his scalp. Dean rolled into a crouched position, summoning his Avatar's combat sword, facing his opponent as the pieces of hair floated lazily to the ground between them. Dean's eyes lighted on the sight of his assailant. An all to familiar assailant…

"Stupid story quirks," growled the author, Blade of Cloud, irritably as he hefted his sword lazily onto his shoulder. A smirk played across his face anyway, which didn't surprise Dean not one jot. Blade of Cloud always did enjoy a good fight after all.

"So…" said Dean slowly. "I see that you still model your avatar form after Final Fantasy characters. What made you change from Squall? I thought that you looked good in it. That armored Knight from last time was so stupid, and now…?"

Blade of Cloud grinned at the banter, knowing full well that Dean was just trying to buy himself some time to prepare for an attack. Nonetheless, he decided to play along anyway.

"Meh. Got bored with it. Four years of looking one way when you can take on any appearance can get boring after a while. As for my new look… I decided to change it and go for a more classic appearance. You like it?"

Dean shrugged.

"A lot of people do Cloud you know."

"Phht! You're just jealous. I don't know why you go for an original customized look. Especially when you can be any character you want…"

"It never mattered to me," interrupted Dean. "I simply didn't care for that stuff. I just wanted to be me…"

Blade of Cloud inched closer, raising his sword.

"Like that will get you anywhere in the reviews section. Probably why OC's don't get as much mileage as canon characters. I myself prefer working with canon characters…"

"You and just about everyone else," muttered Dean.

"I heard that! It's not all bad you know. You get to play around with well liked characters…"

Dean scoffed.

"Like what you did with the Sephiroth? No thanks. As I recall, you turned him into a girl…"

"IT WAS FOR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!" Exclaimed Blade of Cloud heatedly. "I wanted a _different_ perspective on a well known character, and I'll have you know that fic did _well_ in the reviews column…"

**"Fan Fic Flames!"**

Blade of Cloud's mouth became one big '_O_', his eyes bugging out of his head as he realized what Dean had been doing. A gout of fire spurting from Dean's hands and rushing towards the other author in one mad rush. Blade of Cloud raised his large sword and used it as a shield to bloc the oncoming flames, cursing as the intense heat singed his hands. Once the fire died down, Blade lowered his sword and glared at Dean venomously before saying something that made a strange, loud _beeping_ noise that caused Dean to smirk.

"Well, you have to say that you had it coming. Not just for kidnapping the characters of Digimon, but also for rambling on like some weird cartoon villain. You know those guys talk waaaay too much than is healthy for them. Are you going to tell me that your power is infinite now?"

Blade simply replied with another loud _bleep_, which caused Dean to blink at the author, clearly stunned.

"Such language. Wonder if kids are reading this? Oh well, at least you got smacked by a censor, though I don't know why you chose to even _have _censors. The FanFic Domain never had them…"

With a bloodcurdling battle cry, Blade of Cloud lunged forward, swinging his massive sword back to deliver a crushing blow. Dean stood his ground and waited, his eyes twitching slightly at the size of the sword, comparing it to his own and not liking the difference.

_At least it's not a Ginzu sword,_ thought Dean. His body tensed as the sword swung towards him in a wide arch.

Suddenly a black bolt of lightning struck the ground between the two authors, interrupting their battle. As the smoke cleared, Dean's face fell in despair. Standing tall in a black leather trench coat was the Matrix enthusiast, Neo III. An author who was seen participating in the Fable War on the side of the Lord of Fantasy. Despite numerous eyewitness reports (most notably from Rika Nonaka who had nearly been strangled by the author in that battle), he had never been called in to confirm those stories, nor had his account been suspended.

_If I have to face off with two authors at once, I'm a goner!_ Thought Dean desperately.

Neo III turned to face Blade of Cloud.

"Sorry to interrupt you folks, but I'll be taking over here."

"Huh?" This from both Blade of Cloud and Dean.

"Blade," continued Neo III. "A little problem has been developing in the earlier seasons. Characters are remembering things that they shouldn't be. The situation is already a lost cause in season one, but two, three, and four are still under our control. Demon Dayz is going to handle things in three and I've got four covered," Neo indicated Dean. "But two still needs something to stem the flood before it's too late. Dragomon has already given Hikari a heads up that something is not right, and those blasted OC's are back!""

"But I…!"

"BLADE!" Shouted Neo III, overriding his comrade. "I'm going to handle this Avatar, and _you_ are going to zero two. Understand? I didn't give up fixing season three and letting Dark Lord do that for me just so I could listen to you whine and complain. Now I don't want to have to ask you again. _MOVE!_"

After a few moments, Blade of Cloud nodded reluctantly and then he disappeared. Neo III turned to face Dean, a cruel smile curving upwards on his face.

"Now…" he began. "Where were we?"

Dean _bleeped_.

* * *

And now, back to our show.

* * *

Chris crept through the dark halls of the Digimon Emperor's home base, a little worried about what had happened to him earlier when it looked like his form nearly distablized, but put it on the back burner for now. One problem at a time, and right now he had a more pressing matter to attend to, like getting out of Ken's base. He wondered how he had gone so long without being detected by the vast amount of cameras that were in the floating fortress. He had half suspected that his being not a part of the regular script (as opposed to being seen when he met Tai and Gatomon in the apparent _first episode_ of the season) that he wasn't seen. The cameras weren't _supposed _to see him unless the script called for it, but he kind of doubted that. No particular reason, he just didn't want to depend on his OC status and being out-of-script as a reason that he could depend on, so he mostly attributed it to either dumb luck or Ken's arrogance and annoying bouts of evil laughter. They would serve to keep him occupied. 

For how long though was the question.

_I have to get out of here, and soon,_ thought Chris. But that was going to be rather difficult to do. For one thing, his partner was missing in action and probably wrecking havoc on some poor, innocent village. He had thought of trying to free the prisoners but he didn't have the keys or control access to open them, and it wasn't like he could just walk up to Ken and ask for him to let him off at the nearest gas station or something.

_If I could just get to the control room or maybe find a secondary communication device, I could contact the Digi-destined and let them know what's going on. They might send help. Of course, even if they sent help, we'd still need to find a way out of here and get back to the FanFic Domain. Hmmm… I wonder… in the show the Control Spires were capable of changing the borders of the digital world. I wonder if I could do something similar and change the borders of websites or stories so that we can get out of here. If only Izzy were here, in full possession of his fan fic memories so that he could help me with this…_

But wait! An idea came to him, and Chris cursed himself for not thinking of it sooner.

* * *

Ken, the Digimon Emperor, laughed evilly as he finished adding a few parts to his creation and sat back to admire it. It was almost complete now; almost perfect. It was beyond anything that he had originally envisioned, and he had the data code of the Dark Spirals to thank for that. Because of them he had a far greater understanding of the higher-level digimon and their strengths. Perfect for giving him a blue print for crafting his own, and it was far more powerful than anything that Ken currently had at his disposal. Well, almost. It only lacked one thing. 

A power source.

He had been hoping for a well of dark energy that was generated by an evil digimon to appear, but so far his sensors were severely lacking in detecting that sort of occurrence. The realm of darkness was silent for some strange reason, so he was forced to look elsewhere.

_What can I use to empower my new digimon?_

A thought occurred to him.

Why not use the power source that lay in the heart of his own base? It was certainly strong enough, and if he created a link between his new beast and his base, he could still power up his base with hardly any trouble at all.

Ken grinned evilly.

All it would take was the necessary codes to be written and he could pull it off.

* * *

Dragomon heaved himself up from out of the Dark Ocean, finally surrendering to the strength and will of the script, but as his eyes gazed out towards the gray beach his soul gave a shout of triumph. The Digi-destined were no longer there. He had made it. He didn't have to worry about… 

There was a flash of light, and Dragomon collapsed into the ocean as a searing pain ripped through his body. Looking up, he saw an entity that was all too familiar to him. A warrior like being with spiky blonde hair and a large, wide bladed sword gripped easily in one hand, floated above the Ocean Lord with a disdainful look on his face.

"I shoulda known that you'd do this. You were such an underdeveloped character that it's no surprise to me that you kept your individuality. Anyone else or is it just you?"

"Like I'd tell you," gasped Dragomon. The warrior nodded his head, as if he had expected no less from the Ultimate level digimon.

"Figures. Even though you're not a good guy, you'll not back down. Oh well. You can be replaced. Should have used a blank character to begin with but nooo… Neo and Demon Dayz wanted _originals_. Well, I'm sure that they'll make a compromise with you."

With that said, Blade of Cloud swung his blade and released a golden energy wave that tore through Dragomon. The Undersea Master screamed in pain as his data broke apart, and a moment later shards of it were seen floating into the air.

Blade of Cloud looked up at the sky, watching the data dissipate, looking a little disappointed that Dragomon hadn't put up more of a fight. Shrugging, the author turned and flew off towards the sky, intent on seeing what the outlook was on this season before he did anything else to return it to _some_ semblance of normalcy.

* * *

5 


	43. Chapter 43

Disclaimer: All Digimon are not belong to us.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 42

Fourth Arc: 02

**Not Your Average Summer Repeat**: Part 4

Kaio looked back at Arbomon, eyes seemingly blank for a moment before taking on a _miffed_ appearance. Huffing in irritation, Kaio lightly kicked the object that had garnered her irritation.

"Welcome to the digital world," said Kaio, sounding cross. "Where the most advanced piece of dimensional travel is a TV monitor."

Arbomon and Caramon traded glances. They had arrived at the second season's version of the digi-port in the hopes of returning to the _real_ world, but something was preventing that from happening. There was a possible reason behind this of course. During the few times that Kaio had entered and exited the digital world she had been with the Digi-destined and they had activated the digi-port together. Since she had never tried to use her digivice on a digi-port on her own she had assumed that hers would work just like the 02 teams did.

She had forgotten the most important fact of the 02 season; only D-3's could open digi-ports.

"Maybe we should try contacting one of the Digi-destined," said Arbomon as Kaio made a face at the TV and crossed her arms in frustration.

"Brilliant idea," said Kaio with a huff. "But how do I do that? The only way that I can communicate with them is by…"

Something clicked in Kaio's mind and Arbomon, as if knowing what she was thinking, spoke up.

"You _do_ have a D-Terminal card you know."

Kaio frowned.

"You know, I think someone used that idea in a fic. I'd hate to think that I was copying their idea…"

Arbomon rolled her eyes.

"Kaio. We're trapped in a fic, with no way out, with characters who have no memory of who they are and are being held against their will by a crazed author. Trust me, I think that whoever used that idea would understand given the circumstances."

"Hmmmnnn…"

Kaio was a little loath to use her modify cards to get into contact with the Digi-destined. The first time she had demonstrated her digivices _unique_ capabilities Koushiro had been all over her. No surprise there since the computer expert was always interested in gaining knowledge, but this time it looked like his passion was reaching psychotic levels. Just another thing for her to worry about, and with Koushiro acting the way he was when she had shown the Digi-destined her digivice, she wasn't about to let him or _anyone_ near it. Not even Chris's digivice was allowed to be touched (Sora had once attributed this stance to being worried about getting fingerprints on its screen. To this, Kaio had just rolled her eyes but didn't bother replying to that comment). Of course, Kaio had other reasons for not wanting to get in touch with the Digi-destined, though she knew that she had to. The blatant OOCness had been getting on her nerves right around the end of the second episode, standard television/fic time. Watching Yolie hugging Takeru while making eyes at Cody was far to weird for her tastes. The whole thing with Daikari she found to be almost normal in comparison, and as a result immensely tolerable. Weird since her creator was a Takari supporter, but when you're in a strange story that has taken such strange twists and turns like this in the coupling department you learn to tolerate some things a whole lot more.

But mostly, more than anything, it was because the last time she had seen Yolie she had been ogling her as well. Kaio shivered.

_Whoever it was that wrote this fic has a weird sense of humor,_ Kaio had thought at the time.

But back to the problem at hand. Kaio needed a way to get back to the real world, and using the D-Terminal card was the only option. Pulling out the card, Kaio slashed it through her D-Arc.

_Author… whoever it is that came up with this idea. Please understand…_

"DIGI-MODIFY! D-TERMINAL ACTIVATE!"

No sooner then the words left her mouth, a miniature computer like object materialized in front of her, suspended in mid air for a brief moment before descending into the girl's hands. Popping it open, Kaio immediately began typing in a message.

* * *

Koushiro had been the one at his home computer when Kaio had called for help. Contrary to Kaio's certainty on the matter, the computer whiz wasn't fanatical or psychotic when it came to her digivice (or any other piece of technology for that matter), it was just the sudden shock of finding three new digivice models so quickly after the gateway to the digital world had reopened, and one of them, the one that belonged to Digi-destined/Tamer (whatever that meant) Kaio, was a highly advanced model. If he knew how it operated then he could find a way to include its functions with the others, and that would give them the edge that they needed over Ken. In his enthusiasm over the _D-Arc_ (as she had called it), he had frightened the poor girl and she refused to let him touch it. He had hoped to relieve her fears after she got back from the digital world but since she had gone missing he hadn't had the chance to do that. Everyone was worried about her and her friend, who had been captured by the Digimon Emperor for some obscure reason. Taichi had mentioned something about how the _Chris_ kid had said that they were from the future. If that was true, then if Ken was able to get a hold of important information that could very well change the course of events which made it all the more important that they try to find those two. Having to fight the Digimon Emperor complicated things however, as they had to keep searching for Ken's primary outpost and free areas of the digital world that were already under his control. Ken's being able to control Ultimate level digimon certainly didn't make things easier… 

_What the…?_ Began Koushiro as he noticed the message that popped up on his screen.

_It's Kaio! She's asking for someone to open up the digital gate. I'd better call Taichi and tell him to have Hikari use their home computer._

Picking up his home phone Koushiro dialed the number for the Yagami residence.

* * *

Kaio fell to the ground with a grunt as Arbomon and Caramon landed on her. Fortunately due to their relatively small size she didn't suffer from their impact. Still, she almost wished that it could have been the other way around… 

A hand offered itself to Kaio, and the girl took it with a grateful nod as she was hauled to her feet.

"Thanks Hikari. Taichi."

"Don't mention it," said Hikari with a small smile and bright, relieved eyes. "It's good that you were able to make it back. We were starting to worry."

Kaio smiled back.

"Thanks. Look, I know that it's been a while…"

"A _very_ long while," commented Taichi with an odd, almost sarcastic note to his voice, which prompted Kaio to shoot him a glare while continuing.

"…But could someone tell me what I've missed while I was out?"

Taichi raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you said that you were from the future…"

Suddenly the door to that led to the Yagami family's computer room clicked open and in the familiar, perky face of Hikari and Taichi's mother looked in.

"Taichi. Hikari. I just wanted you to know that… oh!" Mrs. Yagami blinked in surprise as she noticed that there was someone else in the room with a couple strange stuffed animals with her. Mrs. Yagami tapped her chin and scrutinized Kaio.

"I didn't know that there was anyone with you two. And what's your name dear?"

Kaio blinked. A little taken off guard by this sudden turn of events, but she quickly fell into character.

"Uh… Kaio ma'am. I'm… a _friend_ of Hikari's. We were supposed to work on a science project together and I… ah… came over to get started on that."

"Hmmm… I wasn't aware that Hikari _had_ a science project. She didn't say anything about it, and usually she tells me when she does."

"Well," chuckled Hikari nervously. "It was rather new, and with everything that's been going on between me and Davis it seemed to have slipped my mind."

Mrs. Yagami cocked an eyebrow as she studied Kaio carefully.

"Funny. I don't recall you coming in."

"I'm a very quiet person," said Kaio simply, her face betraying no emotion. Mrs. Yagami continued to stare at Kaio with a contemplative look on her face. Taichi, feeling that something had to be done to break the awkward moment, spoke up.

"Uh… what was it that you wanted Mom?"

Mrs. Yagami snapped out of her scrutiny of the new arrival that claimed to be _quiet_.

"Huh? Oh! Yes. That. Um… I just wanted you to know that I made some cookies and Lemonade for you so you're free to help yourselves whenever you want."

Taichi sweatdropped.

"That's… okay Mom. Thanks. We'll probably have some later…"

"Taichi. I know that my cooking isn't always up to par with some of the things that you're used to eating nowadays, but you don't need to make up excuses just to get out of eating what I make…"

_Funny,_ thought Kaio. _I seem to recall that Tai or Taichi really got into your meals after his return from the digital world the second time around to find the Eighth Child. Wonder what happened that changed her talent in that area? Or maybe it had more to do with the lack of home cooked food during his time in the digital world._

Somewhere in the conversation, Mrs. Yagami had gotten Taichi to at least try her latest concoction and Hikari and Kaio exchanged sympathetic looks, knowing that Taichi was doing this so as to get his mother out of the room faster so that they could have some privacy with Kaio. This meant that Taichi was more than likely to be spending some quality time in the bathroom upchucking. Talk about taking one for the team…

* * *

Science books were spread across the floor, though neither girl had deigned to even look at them. It was more for appearances than anything else (though when Mrs. Yagami came in to check up on their progress, Kaio had said that they were thinking about _measuring the affects of gravity on small objects_ with the main experiment involving the tossing of an unfortunate stuffed animal off a bridge (she had been looking at Arbomon and grinning crazily when she said that, but Arbomon remained stoic in her stuffed animal role. Caramon, on the other hand, had difficulty restraining his laughter but somehow managed to go unnoticed). After information had been exchanged, interrupted only by Taichi's inevitable trip to the bathroom, Hikari faced Kaio with a serious look as the other girl sat there, absorbing everything that she had been told, eyes closed in thought. 

"So, Dragomon was able to find a loophole just because he was a minor character, huh? That's… _interesting_. I wonder if we can count on help from guys like MegaSeadramon now…"

Hikari narrowed her eyes, feeling slightly irritated now. She had told this strange girl-from-the-future what had happened in her absence, and about her encounter with Dragomon but so far Kaio had offered nothing in return as to how to best explain what had happened.

"Kaio," Hikari began carefully. "I've told you what I know, so would it be too much for you to do the same for me now? Both you and Dragomon have said things that make it sound like we're all part of one big story but neither of you have helped to make things clear."

"It's… things are _complicated_," said Kaio as she looked at the Digidestined of light.

"Then uncomplicated things then," said Gatomon a little grouchily. "A dark digimon didn't just drag my partner to his world for nothing, and you're the only one around right now who knows what's _really_ going on…"

_Even though I only have a basic idea as to what's happened,_ thought Kaio but she didn't say it out loud.

"Gatomon," said Hikari, shushing her partner before turning back to Kaio.

"Back when I was with Dragomon, he said that if I held your digivice, I might get an idea as to what he meant, and understand what's going on. Is there any truth to that?"

Kaio thought about it for a second. Personally she thought that it was a rather clichéd idea, but if a digimon like Dragomon, who still remembered the real events of the show and his life afterwards, was vouching for it then…

"Meh. Why not? Let's give it a whirl."

Kaio pulled out her D-Arc and handed it to Hikari, who took it carefully into her hands. After a second, a light suddenly was emitted from its screen, bathing Hikari in its glow and startling Gatomon. The light died down as quickly as it had appeared, and the two girls stared at each other for a moment, both blinking dazedly.

The bedroom door clicked open.

"What was with the light that I saw from beneath the door…?" Began Mrs. Yagami but both Kaio and Hikari interrupted her on pure reflex.

"EXPERIMENT!" They said quickly at the exact same time, neither of them sure of what to say next. They prayed that something would happen that would prevent Hikari's mother from asking what they were doing.

The sound of Taichi puking in the bathroom was the answer to their hopes and Mrs. Yagami headed in his direction, a concerned look on her face. One that was matched by both Hikari and Kaio.

_Yup. __**Really**__ took one for the team there…_ thought Kaio.

* * *

Ken, the Digimon Emperor typed a few commands on his console and looked triumphantly at his latest creation. Project Kimeramon was _finally _complete. It had all the power that it needed to destroy any opponent that could be put against it and allow him to conquer the entire digital world and make it tremble beneath his feet. 

_All I need to do now is test it…_ thought Ken Ichijouji as he smiled darkly.

* * *

6 


	44. Chapter 44

Disclaimer: Usual drill here folks. Etc… etc… etc…

The Four Seasons: Chapter 43

Fourth Arc: 02

**Not Your Average Summer Repeat**: Part 5

Taichi groaned in misery, though it was greatly exaggerated since his stomach had long since calmed after depositing his mothers cooking into the apartments toilet. This was just his way of trying to get sympathy from his mother (of which he only got a little. She was on to his games, and had been from the moment of his conception). Taichi's discomfort was a moot point right now however. Looking over at Kaio, who was now sitting next to Hikari on the foot of Taichi's bed, her _D-Arc_ strapped to her waist.

_Now I have an idea of what my double Tai went through back in the Fable War, _thought Taichi, remembering his conversation with his double back on the boat when they were heading off to the vacation fic with the other digimon characters to relax. There followed another memory from a week ago, to his perspective thanks to off screen fictional time, involving a brunch meal that he and Sora had shared. Yamato had been there of course, but there Davis's sister, Jun, had been there as well, with Yamato's arm wrapped gently around her shoulder while they teased both Taichi and Sora about their _unspoken feelings_ for each other. Back home, the FanFic Domain that is, Yamato and Jun were something of an item (something that his dubbed counterpart, Matt, had trouble believing, but then so did Yamato at times), so Taichi wasn't entirely disturbed by it. It was just, after the season finale had aired, Taichi had come to more or less accept the cards that fate had dealt him, so to be put in this situation, where things were reset back to the beginning with his own memories wiped clean had an affect on him. How much remained to be seen. He had never thought about this sort of thing before. At least, not until Tai had his problems develop as a result of the Lord of Fantasy's tampering in the Fable War. The show and all of its quirks were behind him and he had been ready to go into retirement. There were the fan fics that involved him with Sora (as well as Mimi and a host of other characters, be it human, digimon, male, female, blood relative or not) that kept him busy. Some of the stories that he was in were fun, reminding him of the _good old days_, and then there were some stories that were tasteless, or just left him with a bad taste in his mouth (Sometimes literally).

_I won't let it get to me though,_ thought Taichi as he sat up from his place on the floor. _I already went through something similar when I first found out that I was a fictional character. I remember my first Taiora fic like it was yesterday. It hurt a lot then but I moved past it. If I was able to deal with it then, I can deal with it now. And I __**will**_

But the memory of his conversations with his double, Tai, following the Fable War kept coming to mind. Tai had been hurt badly on the emotional level, betrayed by someone that he trusted. Granted, Taichi had trusted the Lord of Fantasy as well, and knew him back when he was on the duel account Arc22, but because of his status as the Japanese template for the dubbed character Tai, his double, and the lack of availability of Japanese subbed episodes, the Lord of Fantasy preferred to work with Tai more often, translating his character far better than he ever could with Taichi. And when the Fanfic Domain was formed and the stories of all the best known television shows and their fanfic stories were brought into its all welcoming embrace, the Lord of Fantasy worked with Tai exclusively, sometimes disregarding the other characters, with the only notable exception being Sora, thanks to his preference to the Taiora coupling. Yes, Taichi could see where Tai's pain was coming from, both in terms with the Lord of Fantasy and with Sora Takenouchi, the infamous Digidestined of Love. He had been disappointed of course when Sora had married Yamato, but his memories from the show, despite their fuzziness because the majority of them leading up to the final episode had been off screen, allowed him to see move on. Besides, since the FanFic Domain had been created, he and the others from all seasons had learned to love each other. Some… in more _different_ ways than others, and still more then he had expected, but it all served to strengthen their bond as friends and fellow characters.

Taichi shook his head. _Enough! This isn't the time to be focusing on this right now! We've got to figure out what our next move is going to be. _

Taichi looked back at the girls, both of them were watching him now, wondering what was going through his mind. He wondered what Hikari was thinking, as she had been written as going out with the dubbed version of her friend Daisuke. Taichi pitied Davis. This was the second time for him…

"Okay," said Taichi. "We've got to reach the others and get them to touch Kaio's D-Arc so that they can get their memories back."

"Do we have to?" Asked Hikari tentatively. "It just… I don't want anyone to be hurt when they remember what's _really_ happened in their lives…"

Hikari bit her lower lip. Although she didn't say it, she was greatly concerned for how Davis was going to react. Back in the Fable War he and her double, Kari Kamiya, had been in the same situation as she and Davis were in now. Although he handled the first time admirably, Hikari wasn't sure as to how Davis would take to a second one.

"You know that we have to," said Taichi carefully. "There are plenty of reasons why getting the others to remember and getting out of here are important. Remember when we talked about having to be ready to make certain _choices_?"

Hikari hung her head, wanting to believe that there was a better way, or maybe that was just her desire to protect her friends misleading her.

"Well, I know that I want to do this," spoke up Kaio. "Apart from the fact that we were all kidnapped, there's just some things going on with the alterations that are just too much for me…"

Taichi frowned.

"If this is because your author isn't a Daikari supporter…"

Kaio _hmmphed_ and crossed her arms, an irritable expression on her face.

"No, it's not that. Actually it's… well… it depends on whether or not Yolie's still being weird…"

Hikari's eyes widened in shock. In her musings about her own problems and the consequences thereof, she had completely forgotten about Yolie's horrendous case of OOCness.

Taichi sweatdropped.

"Let's… leave that aside for now, though it _is_ a little disturbing…"

"That doesn't even begin to describe how she was acting the last time I was around."

"_Anyway,_" interrupted Taichi. "If I remember my show's correctly, this is the episode where the team goes into the digital world and eats at Digitamamon's Diner. We can use that get-together to restore the memories of most of the Digidestined. We'll have a harder time trying to get a hold of Yamato, Sora, Koushiro, and Joe…"

"What about Mimi?" Asked Kaio. "She's in America…"

"She shows up at Digitamamon's Diner with that other Digidestined, Michael, remember?"

Kaio thought about it for a moment before nodding finally.

"I don't suppose that any of you have Digi-dollars handy, do you? I went broke when we got trapped in this repeat..."

Taichi sweatdropped.

* * *

_Just take it easy Kaio,_ thought Kaio Griffen as she strode through the halls of the Digidestined's elementary school with Hikari by her side, both of them heading towards the computer lab to meet up with the others. She had phoned Davis before they left and informed him that _she_ (Hikari hadn't told the Inheritor of Courage that Kaio had come back just yet) would be arriving late and that he should go on ahead. Davis had, of course been disappointed, and had told the Child of Light that he would be willing to wait for her, which took some rather _creative_ thinking on her part to get Davis to go to the computer room without her. Since that conversation, Hikari had been more than a little quiet. Well, she had every reason to be. A friend of hers had been duped again. They all had been duped, and just as it was before during the Fable Wars, people were going to get hurt. 

_There's just __**way**__ too much angst on that girl's face,_ thought Arbomon from her place on Kaio's shoulder as she watched Hikari out of the corner of one eye. _What we need is a little bit of comedy to lighten things up. Maybe Davis will do something stupid… Of course, from what I recall from the last time we met in this __**story**__, Davis didn't make any mistakes. Aw, nuts…_

Looking over at Caramon, who had on a whim placed himself on Kaio's other shoulder, wrapping his long, reptilian tail around the girl's arm as was his normal custom when he was with Chris, and the feline digimon wondered what the lizard was thinking. For some reason, Caramon hadn't gone on about how regretful he was about his actions when he was under the Digimon Emperor's control. When they told him, he just accepted it rather nonchalantly and asked what was for dinner (yes, he _did_ ask that). Of course, Caramon always seemed to her as the type of digimon who took just about everything rather easy, and had a laid back personality. This oddity was only reinforced by his attitude towards being enslaved and forced to level the towns of innocent digimon. He had never seemed like a heartless digimon to her, but then perhaps he was just being pragmatic. Since Caramon knew that he wasn't entirely responsible for his actions and didn't need others to explain it to him, then he could instead focus his energies on that which had forced him to commit all those atrocities.

But since they were in a public school, she couldn't very well just ask him about what was going through his mind. Arbomon was too busy trying to pass herself off as a rather _unique_ and _obedient_ pet cat, and likewise with Caramon. Except as a lizard.

_If only I had a ball of yarn or something to make the image perfect. Hmmm… wonder if Gatomon brought along any catnip. __**That**__ stuff cures it all._

The two characters, on canon and one OC, stopped in front of the door that led to the computer room and paused for a moment, both of them taking a deep breath and steeling themselves for what they would encounter within this room, and each for different reasons. For Kaio, her reason was made rather explicitly clear at the sound of Yolie squealing.

Kaio slowly opened the door, and both girls and their digimon braced themselves.

* * *

Kaio scanned the room carefully, noting that the canon characters, Davis, Takeru, Yolie, Cody, and Koushiro were gathered around the computer, with their digimon, Upamon, DemiVeemon, Patamon, and Poromon. At the moment, none of them had noticed that she or Hikari had arrived yet, being distracted at the moment. 

"Cody? Did anyone ever tell you what mysterious eyes you have?" Asked Yolie dreamily as she glomped on Cody, bending down to do so and whispering words in the boy's ear that made him go through multiple shades of red. Takeru sighed in exaspiration as the girl that he was _written_ to be in love with cooed over another boy. Takeru looked over at Davis, who gave him a sympathetic nod that seemed to say, _'I feel your pain bud'._ Both Cody and Koushiro were blushing deeply. With Cody it was obvious, Koushiro…

_Well, maybe Yolie made eyes at him or something. I still can't believe that Takeru was responsible for her activating the Digi-Egg of Love. You really put your foot in it this time didn't you?_

On Kaio's right shoulder, Caramon blinked.

"Um…is it just me, or is Yolie acting weirder than usual? I haven't seen her like this since one Davis/Ken/Yolie triangle fic from a month back."

Arbomon and Kaio frowned at the little lizard.

"Wasn't that fic rated _M_?"

"Er…"

"That's it," growled Kaio, narrowing her eyes. "You're getting down."

"Awww…"

Before anything else could happen, the Digidestined, having finally noticed the newcomers, turned to face them, and that was when Yolie's eyes lit up.

_Oh no…_ began Kaio, and then Yolie dashed forward, arms spread wide. Kaio braced herself and held up her own hands to ward the girl off.

She really shouldn't have worried.

Yolie's arms snaked outwards and snatched Caramon off of Kaio's shoulder, spinning the startled digimon around and hugging him tight to her chest as she once more began to make loud, delighted exclamations. As Caramon was spun around, Arbomon, Hikari, and Kaio saw the lizard mouth the words, _'Help me'._

"OHHH! WHAT A _CUUUTE_ DIGIMON! KAIO! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT YOU HAD A SECOND PARTNER?!"

_Why don't you just ask me where I've been?_ Thought Kaio as she smacked a hand to her head, feeling the beginnings of a headache. _One would think that that would be the primary focus of anyone's attentions for someone who's been gone a long time…_

"Uh… actually, he's the partner to another… um… _Digidestined._ I've been trying to look for him in the digital world for a while now…"

"Oh, right," said Yolie as she stopped her spinning and smiled prettily at Kaio, causing the girl to flush lightly and cross her arms in irritation.

"By the way," said Yolie, still smiling. "There was something that I forgot to ask before you disappeared on us. This kid that you've been looking for; is he single?"

Kaio closed her eyes and counted to three, clenching her fists all the while.

_Must not kill. Deep breaths. Must not kill. Deep breaths…_

In the background, Takeru was thinking the exact same thing.

"Sheesh," muttered Arbomon. "She's worse than a Bakura Fangirl from Yu-Gi-Oh."

Caramon looked at Arbomon with a nervous expression on his reptilian face.

"You know… suddenly Yolie's ogling over Cody doesn't look so bad…"

Cody choked on air, his face darkening noticeably. Yolie giggled and gave the boy a light pat on the head, further increasing the amount of redness on the boy's face. Takeru sighed, pitying the poor boy.

Davis approached Hikari, a worried expression on his face. Hikari had been quiet since she had entered the room and hadn't gone up to see him as she usually did. Something was up, and he knew it deep down in his heart. For some reason, it disturbed him far more than that incident with Dragomon.

"Hikari?" Asked Davis tentatively and kicked himself mentally for sounding that way. "You okay?"

Hikari looked up at Davis with a strange look in her eyes that Davis hadn't seen in a long time. She looked so… so _sad_. She looked like she was the bearer of some particularly bad news and wasn't sure if she wanted to be the one to do it. Davis took Hikari's hand gently in his own, hoping that he could lend her the strength that she needed to tell him what was on her mind.

But Hikari's face never lost that look sadness. In fact, it only deepened.

"It's nothing," said Hikari in a low voice. "Kaio just has something to say to us. All of us."

Koushiro walked up to Kaio, one eye cocked curiously.

"Is it about the Digimon Emperor?" He asked.

"No," said Kaio with a shake of her head as she took out her digivice. "But he is a small part of this, and he's mixed up in it just like the rest of us."

"I don't understand," said Koushiro as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Just what is it that _is_ going on?"

"First, I'd like for you to… take a look at my digivice."

Kaio looked first at Koushiro, and then at Yolie. Her eye twitched as a thought came to her.

_It would make things more bearable…_ Kaio thought.

"But first, I want Yolie to look at it first."

Yolie gave a content sigh and batted her eyes at Kaio, star like sparkles shining in her irises and the world in her vision seemed to take on a dream-like hue. Kaio noted, to her chagrin that thorn-less roses started popping up around her with multitudes of Cherubs and pink hearts floating in the air.

_Okay, this is __**so**__ beyond weird now… In fact, I find this slightly more disturbing than when Ryan, Chris, that Ashley girl, and me saw Rika in a dress. And that takes a __**lot**__ to top! Doubt that there will be anything else that will do that…_

"Kaio?" Asked Yolie in a distant voice. "Has anyone ever told you how beautiful your digivice is?"

Kaio's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Just take the stupid digivice already."

The window to the computer lab's door emitted a bright light a second later.

* * *

Wormmon made his way through the Digimon Emperor's base, worry filling his thoughts. For some time now Ken had been obsessed with that _Kimera Project _of his, despite Wormmon's best efforts to make him steer clear of it, and sabotage it. It was looking bad, and he wished that the Chris child hadn't disappeared the way he did. Wormmon wondered how that had happened, but as the sensors hadn't picked up any unusual readings that could explain the occurrence, the insect was left with nothing to go on, and could only continue with feeling disturbed. 

How he wished that Ken would just wake up from his madness and see the error of his ways…

A hand emerged from the shadows from the corner that he was turning and grabbed him, pulling him into their hidden depths. Wormmon made one, quick cry of surprise, and then was silent.

* * *

7 


	45. Chapter 45

Disclaimer: No poseo Digimon

The Four Seasons: Chapter 44

Fourth Arc: 02

**Not Your Average Summer Repeat**: Part 6

_"Shhh!"_ Hissed Chris as he clamped a hand over Wormmon's mandibles. "Take it easy! It's just me, Chris! The human prisoner that you helped to escape, remember? Sheesh, do you _want _to attract attention?"

Now most digimon, when confronted with being unexpectedly grabbed from behind and pulled into a dark corner, would have responded with trying to bite the boy's fingers off, and Wormmon was in an excellent position to do so. Fortunately for Chris, Wormmon wasn't most digimon, and the fact that he recognized his voice saved the child the trouble of a lengthy hospital bill to pay later.

Nodding, Wormmon asserted that he knew Chris, and that it was no longer necessary for him to try to keep him silent. Slowly, carefully, Chris removed his hand, ready to clamp down again at a moments notice should Wormmon prove false (which he doubted but he couldn't be certain as far as the fic he was in was concerned). Chris was rewarded with the glimmering, hopeful eyes of Wormmon, and he placed the insect back on the ground.

"Glad that you didn't try to take my fingers off," said Chris with a slight nod.

"I can say the same too," said Wormmon, breathing a sigh of relief. "But did you have to get my attention this way? You frightened me."

Chris grinned and rubbed the back of his head.

"I know, but it's much more dramatic this way. It's kind of how I was…_ brought up_. Some habits are tough to shake off."

Wormmon just stared at Chris for a moment, not really comprehending what the blonde haired boy in the black and blue hoody had just said, but decided not to press the issue. Besides, they had more important things to worry about at this moment, and he had some questions to ask.

"Good to see you again," said Wormmon. "And it's nice to know that you're… um… still alive after what happened to you the last time we met. By the way; how'd you do that?"

Chris scratched his head.

"You know… I have no clue. I could guess that there was some weird glitch in the system or something, but I don't really have anything to support that."

Chris frowned and Wormmon looked at the blonde haired boy with wide, curious eyes. Somehow, Wormmon had an idea that there was something strange going on around here.

In Chris's mind, he once more thought about the strange occurrence that he saw after waking up in the cave. When his hand had… Chris shivered. There was something about that that he didn't like. Not one bit. It chilled him to the core of his soul and left him with a sense of foreboding. Shaking his head, Chris decided to focus on the current situation at hand and deal with the other development later. Hopefully by then he'd be reunited with the others and they'd be back at the FanFic Domain, though he sort of doubted it would happen. Events of the highly dramatic and adventure type rarely went that way, as Chris and plenty of characters before him had found out the hard way.

Chris looked at Wormmon.

"I need something that I can use to contact the Digidestined," the boy said. "Can you arrange something for me to use?"

Wormmon thought about it for a moment, and then nodded.

"I can show you a secondary communications room that Ken rarely uses. You should be able to contact the Digidestined from there with my help."

Chris smiled and nodded before putting Wormmon on the ground.

"Thanks," he said, and the two set off down the dark halls of the Digimon Emperor's fortress.

"By the way," Chris spoke up after a few seconds of walking. "Could you fill me in on what's been going on since I've been out?"

Wormmon nodded.

"Well, it started like this…"

* * *

The Digidestined walked towards _Digitamamon's Diner_, thoughts of their new mission, and of the events that have forced them into it, consistently present in their minds. 

Hikari looked over at Yolie, who was currently walking side by side with Kaio, trying very hard to not look at the girl and blushing greatly. No surprise there since prior to her contact with Kaio's D-Arc, her personality was a warped version of what it had been before its makeover, and extremely flirtatious to boot (or at least more so than it had been before, almost to the point where she was making eyes at just about anything that moved on two legs, including some of the Digidestined's digimon). Not exactly something that the purple haired girl was feeling very comfortable with at this moment, especially considering the amount of times that she had come within inches of kissing Kaio and Cody in addition to Takeru, her supposed _confirmed _boyfriend at the time.

There just wasn't any end in sight for how often the Digidestined could go through something as emotionally damaging as what the Lord of Fantasy had put them through back during the Fable War. Tai, the dubbed counterpart to Hikari's brother, Taichi, had still been dealing with the fall out when they were going on vacation.

_Why can't people just be satisfied with what they put into their own stories and respect everyone else's preferences? It's not like who we end up with romantically is important, and it shouldn't be treated like a religion that needs defending. Why can't we all just get along?_

As Hikari continued with her musings her eyes lighted on Davis, and her face softened. He had been awfully quiet since he had regained his memories. As Hikari recalled, the only words that the goggle wearing boy had said was something along the lines of _'Not again'_. Memories of her talks with her dub counterpart, Kari Kamiya, came to the Child of Light's mind, about how she and Davis were made to fall in love, forced to have their memories altered to suit the Lord of Fantasies preference. The emotional harm that such a tampering had caused had been hard on all the characters, but Davis seemed to have dealt with it well, unless there was some inner turmoil that he refused to show on the surface. Though whenever Kari had approached him, to check on how he was handling things since he end of the Fable War, he would either close up or retreat to saying whatever random things happened to come to mind in an effort to confuse the girl and change the subject.

"_When in doubt, deny, deny, deny. Who says I'm dumb?"_

That had been one of Davis's lines in one of episodes from the World Tour story arch, and it seemed as though he was using it to its fullest effect whenever someone wanted to see how he was doing. Hikari couldn't really blame him. Throughout the entire second season, Davis had been fawning over Kari, trying to win her gratitude and attentions, oftentimes humiliating himself in the process. Though he had accepted his existence as a fictional character (facilitated in part to being able to hook up with Kari as the stories came up), to have something like this happen to him not once, but _twice_ was starting to take its toll on the boy. Hikari had something of an understanding where he was coming from. She wasn't too sure what to make of the altered memories that she had been forced to bear either, or what she was supposed to think about her friend now. She knew that the memories weren't real, and that they never happened, but in them she found a fair number of comfort, even if most of them revolved around being in Davis's arms.

Hikari frowned. She had to have gone through this thousand's of times with each story that she had been made to participate in. She had gotten used to it as time went on, and had even grown closer to her friends as a result of those stories. So why did this bother her so much?

_Because this time there was no permission asked. No author approached us about whether or not we wanted to take part in something like this. They just came in and grabbed us, changed our memories without so much as asking. Like our feelings weren't at all important to them._

Hikari looked back once more at Davis as they all strode up the path, remembering all those strange, goofy moments that he had when he tried to get her attention in one form or another. Even that strange episode where he tried to get Veemon to digivolve to his Champion form to impress Kari. A strange notion to be sure, and it only served to highlight the childish part of his personality as well as to provide amusement for the audience back home who were watching their adventures. Now however, Hikari couldn't help but feel bad for Davis. He really had a good heart, and he had matured greatly during his adventures in the digital world (with the only exception being his rather obvious crush on Kari), and didn't deserve to be treated this way. None of them did. There must be something that she could do to help him…

But before Hikari could even think of doing anything, the Digidestined's D-Terminal's beeped at them. Stopping, they all pulled out their D-Terminals and popped them open to see the message that had been sent to them.

"I don't believe it," said Yolie. "It's from Izzy. He says that Chris has made contact with him and that…" Yolie frowned. "… And that he's in Ken's base right now."

Kaio snorted.

"Like that really helps us," she said. "As I recall, Ken's base is a mobile one. It's not like we're going to be able to just up and find it right away…"

Yolie waved the D-Terminal in front of the other girl's face.

"HEL-LO! Ever hear of Latitude and Longitude? Izzy sent those to us as well. Sure it may be subject to change, but so long as Chris keeps relaying that to us we should be fine."

Kaio nodded, though slightly miffed now because of Yolie having to point out the obvious to her. Still, she managed to cover her irritation with the purple haired girl.

"All right," said Takeru. "So what do we do now? We still have to get a hold of Mimi, Michael, and Digitamamon and restore their memories."

"You mean it isn't obvious? We have to go and rescue Chris."

"Yeah, but if events from this show continue, Mimi and Michael will be forced to fight Digitamamon on their own, and that can be difficult since he's at the Ultimate level. Since neither of them is capable of digivolving to the Ultimate level it's going to be difficult for them to defeat Digitamamon given his abilities. And don't even THINK about reminding us that it was an Armor that defeated him. Shurimon only succeded because he was able to find the crack in his shell, so to speak."

"Oh terrific," said Kaio, rolling her eyes. "You mean that we're resorting to bad puns now?"

Takeru sighed.

_Does she __**have**__ to be sarcastic?_

Hikari stepped in.

"C'mon. There's nothing that says that we can't split up and have one group focus on rescuing Chris and another help out Mimi and Michael. I know that you want to help get Chris out of there, but he seems to be doing fine so far, and now that he's given us the location of Ken's base we can end this story arch much sooner than the script says it will. We won't even have to fight Kimeramon this time."

Kaio scowled and crossed her arms.

"Fine. But you're going to need this. Or rather Chris will."

Digging into her jacket's pockets, Kaio pulled out Chris's digivice and held it out. Hikari took it carefully.

"So how are we doing this?" Asked Kaio. "I say that Cody and Davis come with me to Digitamamon's Diner since their partners can't fly…"

"What?" Exclaimed Davis. "You're saying that I have to miss out on our first encounter with Ken's base, _again_?"

"Hey," said Veemon. "At least it's not because of your snoring this time."

"You're really not helping Veemon…"

"She does have a point though," said Cody. "Takeru, Hikari, and Yolie are the only ones that can fly, so if these coordinates are correct they'll be able to get to and get inside Ken's base without any trouble."

Davis nodded reluctantly.

"Fine. But I'm coming next time."

"What makes you so sure that there will _be_ a next time?"

"Uh… intuition?"

"Intuition doesn't really go with you Davis," said Yolie.

"That's only with math and science tests, Yolie. In case you've forgotten I always trusted my gut when it came to our adventures in the digital world."

"Fine," Yolie sighed. "I'm willing to concede that point, but only because your gut was right on something _other_ than whether or not it was hungry."

Davis sweatdropped.

"Thanks… I think…"

Kaio raised an eyebrow.

"Wow. That was certainly heartwarming and inspiring. Are we supposed to hug now and give a speech on the power of friendship and teamwork?"

"Let's… just get a move on," said Takeru.

"Don't forget to take this little reptile with you too," said Kaio, indicating the Caramon that was still attached to her shoulder with Arbomon.

"And here I thought that you forgot all about me," said Caramon, grinning.

* * *

Chris took his hands off of the shadow-shrouded keyboard, wondering just how it was he was able to type in that message and send it off without seeing the buttons, all of which were probably in Japanese to. But then, Ken did this sort of thing every day back when he was the Digimon Emperor, and Chris _was_ in an anime so technically stuff like this was supposed to come naturally. Whatever the case, Chris opted to not worry about it and focus on something else. Why argue with a good thing right? 

"Okay," said Chris. "Looks like it's just a matter of time now. I just hope that they get here quickly in spite of the opposition. They seem to be fairing pretty well against the Ultimate that Ken has been putting into his army lately."

"Yes," said Wormmon. "But I'm getting worried. Ken has been focusing a lot more on a special project of his, one that you told me to keep an eye out for. I've been doing everything I could to try and stop him without arousing his suspicions but I'm afraid that he's close to being done with it. All he needs now is a power source."

Chris nodded.

"Yeah, but doesn't he need something from the powers of darkness for that? When I asked you about whether or not the Dark Pool showed up you said _no_…"

"Yes, but he's thinking about linking his creation with the power of this base as an alternative. That way he doesn't have to go searching for a dark digimon."

Chris's face fell and he turned to the screen on which he had sent his message, his brow furrowing in thought.

"I don't suppose that you can get me to take a look at this file can you?"

"I can, but we won't be able to delete it or alter it. Now that he's settled on a finalized design he won't let anyone else but himself touch it."

"I've seen this creature in action before Wormmon. I don't think that I and the others will have that much to worry about."

With a nod, Wormmon crawled up onto Chris's shoulder and began to press invisible button in the darkness, and sure enough an image of Ken's secret project was displayed on the screen. Chris's eyes widened as he took it in.

"Houston," he said, his voice filled with shock. "We have a problem…"

* * *

Blade of Cloud stepped out of the shadows and looked at the Digimon Emperor's latest creation with a hint of pride at it. It was… _unique_ to say the least, and he had been the one who had suggested it when this particular creature came up in conversation with his two comrades and fellow authors. His mind went over everything that he had seen so far in this season, and he decided that now was the appropriate time to cleanse it of its _impurities_ and try to reestablish the genres and scripts as they had initially been laid down. The OC's were mostly immune to his nature, and by the same token, the canon characters had been rendered as such as well. Not a good thing, and he couldn't really afford to destroy them. Well, he could destroy the OC's but he had to remove their taint from the Canon characters. No easy task there, but he knew that he and the others could do it. Once they got Milleniummon's data under control again, but that was Neo's job. He would handle it. Until then, this was Blade's task. And with this creature, he would be able to make all that he wanted a reality. 

All he had to do was destroy the OC's first.

With a smile, Blade of Cloud's body glowed and transformed into data particles, floating upwards and merging with the massive form that lay hidden in the shadows. The creature's eyes glowed red briefly, and then darkened. The shadows paused as they held their breath for the moment when the beast that they hid within their depths would be unleashed upon the world.

* * *

7 


	46. Chapter 46

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 45

Fourth Arc: 02

**Not Your Average Summer Repeat**: Part 7

Ken Ichijouji, the Digimon Emperor, smiled evilly as he wrote lines of code and fed them into his latest creation. It was something that he was rather proud of, more so than his gaining the ability to control digimon, Ultimate or otherwise; not even the creation of his control spires, the ultimate symbol of his authority, made him as proud as this beast did. All of them paled before this beast's strength…

Ken frowned as he noticed what looked like foreign code appearing in his creations data matrix. What was that doing the…? But before Ken could really analyze it, the strange code disappeared, settling into the mass of digi-code and zeroes and ones as though it belonged there, vanishing from Ken's sight completely. The Digimon Emperor debated doing an analysis of his creation to make sure that nothing was wrong, because the _last_ thing that he needed was just that sort of thing to happen in the midst of a battle with the Digidestined, turning what would otherwise be a grand victory into yet another defeat for him.

Sensors beeped on Ken's computer. Something was approaching his base.

Turning to the main view screen, Ken activated it, and saw three flying objects approaching his mobile fortress. He didn't need much to go on to know that they had to be the Digidestined.

_Well, well, well…_ thought the Digimon Emperor with a cold smile on his face._ Looks like I'll be able to run a field test of my newest toy after all._

Ken chuckled darkly as he pressed a new set of commands into his computer.

* * *

Takeru sat on the back of his Armor digivolved partner, Pegasusmon, as he, Hikari, and Yolie, riding on their partners Nefertimon and Halsemon approached the Digimon Emperor's home base. They were almost there, and that meant pretty soon they would be able to rescue Chris and hopefully restore Ken's memories as well so that they could end this useless fighting between them and focus on finding a way to get back to the FanFic Domain. 

_I can't believe that this has happened,_ thought the blonde haired boy. _But then, I guess that I shouldn't be surprised. I mean, a lot of authors tend to be pretty defensive about their pairing preferences, and if an opportunity like what the Lord of Fantasy did to my double, TK, came up, I can see why they'd take it. Still… I just wish that they wouldn't go about it this way. I thought that we were all friends here, but I guess that some things are more important than friendship and feelings._

Takeru frowned as he gazed at the flying mountain.

_What I want to know is __**how**__ they did all this. The Lord of Fantasy was able to pull off what he did by uploading a virus program within the FanFic Domain, sealing off certain characters, locking authors out of their accounts, and deleting OC's and stories that were relevant to the season that he had chosen to work with and try to make his. This… this feels different for some reason. Like someone has taken the actual video footage and edited it, changing scenes and actions, even whole personalities just to fit their preferences. How was this pulled off, and without us being aware of it? My twin, TK might be able to answer that question since he had already been through this, but he's not here right now. I guess that I'd better focus on the here and now, and worry about the rest later._

Ken's base drew nearer, and Takeru narrowed his eyes, searching for the cavern that would allow them access to Ken's base.

* * *

"Oh man… this isn't good," said Chris for what had to be the hundredth time since he had seen the schematics for Ken's project. He was right now, flitting through the various files, trying desperately to find some way to hack into them and delete the actual project itself, but given that the file's defenses were programmed by a super genius he of course didn't have a snowballs chance in hell. He decided on taking a different approach and send out a message to the Digidestined once it became clear that, given how close to completion Ken's uber project was, they were basically coming to a death trap rather than executing a standard search and rescue mission. As Chris hit the send button he got an answer that he didn't expect. Error. 

_Wha…?_

For some reason the message wasn't getting through.

"Sorry," Wormmon said. "It's protocol. Ken doesn't like talking to many outside people when he's the Digimon Emperor, especially when those messages are being sent to the Digidestined. Maybe we should have called Collect."

Chris groaned in exasperation as he felt his heart slam against his ribcage.

"There's got to be some way that we can help the Digidestined try and dodge this. I don't suppose that you can lend me a Mechanorimon or something, can you?"

"Sorry," said the insect virus. "But those Digimon, as you know, are controlled by dark rings. They respond only to the Digimon Emperor and not me. I don't think Ken would allow you to leave if he knew that you were still on board his base."

Chris resisted the urge to slam his fists down on the darkened keyboard. He couldn't contact the Digidestined, and he couldn't hack into Ken's files. He just didn't have the ability for that sort of thing. He had heard of some characters reaching down into the very core of their being and pulling off feats that went well beyond their character, usually in order to speed along a plot or something of that sort but he couldn't seem to do that here!

_What I need is an author,_ thought Chris. _Unfortunately I don't see one handy around here, so it's just up to me and Wormmon. Great…_

That was when an alarm sounded, and the screen that Chris and Wormmon were standing in front of flickered and changed to show them a view of three Digidestined flying towards Ken's base.

_They're here,_ thought Chris forlornely.

"I'd better get back to that cave entrance."

* * *

Kaio groaned as she listened to Davis prattle on about how good Digitamamon's food was, and how he wondered how the Virus Ultimate was able to do any cooking at all with his lack of arms. Even Cody and Armadillomon couldn't help but admit that Davis had a point there, and it became quite the topic of conversation as they made their way to the famed diner. 

_The fate of fan fiction hangs in the balance and all they can do is question how it is that an armless digimon cooks. Amazing that they even saved the digital world in the first place. Oh well, at least it didn't make the trip completely boring, though I certainly wish that Davis had chosen a different topic of conversation other than food. It's making me hungry. Grrr…_

The diner that the first and second season of Digimon had made famous finally came into view, and the three characters approached it and opened the door, smiling lightly at the family like feeling that they got from its appearance. For a Virus, Digitamon sure knew how to make his customers feel welcome. When he wasn't around that is.

"Well," said Davis. "Not a whole lot to do except kill time until Mimi and Michael show up I guess. Hey! Digitamamon! You've got some customers here!"

"Hungry ones too," said Armadillomon with a wide smile on his face.

"Could you at least be a little more tact you two?"

"I have to agree with Kaio on this one," said Cody, looking down at his yellow partner. "And you know that you're on a diet anyways."

"Come on Cody," said Armadillomon cheerfully. "Just this one time? I mean, we are here now and we won't be going anywhere for a while…"

"DIGITAMAMON!" Shouted Veemon, cupping his hands over his mouth for added emphasis.

"Okay, okay," said a familiar, grouchy voice that had a spooky sound to it that vaguely reminded the characters of Igor from the Frankenstein movie. "Just hold your horses, I've only got one shell!"

Kaio rolled her eyes. Why it was that digimon always felt the need to joke about some physical attribute of theirs was totally beyond her. Well, that was just how they were she supposed. As Digitamamon entered the room, Kaio felt the need to recall as to whether or not the Ultimate had had red eyes or yellow ones.

* * *

Ken sat in his chair, watching the Digidestined approach his home base. Excitement filled his chest, but he restrained himself from unleashing his beast too soon. He wanted things to be perfectly set up for its appearance. 

_Closer. Closer. Closer._

The seconds ticked by, and almost as if they heard the boy's call, the three flying Armor digimon drew closer. Soon enough they entered into range…

"Go get them," spoke the Digimon Emperor in a low voice that spoke of barely contained anticipation for what he was just about to witness.

* * *

Hikari's mind was focused on the base, searching for the entrance that she knew was there and would allow them access to the inner sanctum of Ken Ichijouji and enable them to find their friend, and Kaio's fellow OC, Chris. With his help, they would finally be able to free Ken from the control had been forced onto all of them and focus on getting back home. Maybe Ken could help them out with that. Maybe with some hidden aspect of the Control Spires. There was so little about them that they knew about, though they did know from Oikawa was that the Control Spires could change the borders of the digital world. Maybe Ken could use that aspect to change the borders between web sites so that they could get back to the FanFic Domain… 

_Hold on,_ though Hikari as she noticed something happening to the base, and was overcome by a sense of déjà vu. _What's going on over there?_

Within seconds, Hikari regretted having asked that question.

* * *

Doors opened on the roof of the Digimon Emperor's base, and a floor drew upwards with its prized cargo. The creature was massive; easily the size of a Metal Greymon, and the creature sported the tail, legs, and chest plate of that particular Ultimate to go with the rest of its mismatched appearance. Cold, yellow eyes looked out at the world beneath a Gigadramon's metallic faceplate and Megadramon's cybernetic arms lifted into attack position, matched by the all too familiar skeletal ones of SkullGreymon, its clawed, bony hands opening and closing in anticipation. MegaKabuterimon's main body and Okuwamon's shell accompanied by MarineDevimon's tentacled arms flexed and glistened in the light of the sun. And fixed to its shoulders were the mounted cybernetic cannons of a Machinedramon. 

The beast stood there for a moment, as though waiting, taking in the world around it, and letting the full impact of its presence be known to its soon-to-be opponents. Finally, with a snarl, the shell on its back opened and let loose the insect wings that it held within, and with frightening speed the creature began to rush towards the Digidestined.

**_"GRAAAH!"_**

* * *

Digitamamon _eggbutted_ Digmon out of the diner as soon as Armadillomon Armor digivolved, breaking the front door off of its hinges and sending broken shards of glass in all directions. Digmon grunted from the impact but rolled with the blow, trying to shake off the worst of it so that he could launch a counter attack against his opponent. Cody, having caught on sooner than Kaio that something was amiss with the Viral Ultimate and had activated his digi-egg of knowledge just a split second before Digitamamon attacked them, under orders to destroy all Digidestined and their digimon who happened to show up on his doorstep. The Armor digimon didn't have the strength necessary to tackle a digimon on this high a level, but the distraction that he provided did do one thing. It gave Kaio time to slide her Digi-egg of Fate card through her D-Arc for Arbomon to use and allowed Davis to Armor digivolve Veemon to Flamedramon. 

"Hope he's got good insurance," said Davis as Flamedramon leapt out of the diner, claws extended.

"Okay," said the warrior digimon. "You want your egg boiled?"

"Flamedramon," said Davis, pumping his fists into the air. "Just take him out already! We have to finish this so that we can catch up with the others!"

"Oh. Right. **Fire Ro…** _Oof!_"

Flamedramon was slammed to the side as Digitamamon crashed into him, nearly sending him through one of the windows of the diner.

"Sheesh," said Kaio, rolling her eyes and groaning in exasperation. "This is starting to turn into a circus. Ritsanemon?"

"Taking orders now," said Ritsanemon as she leapt at Digitamamon, hands stretched out to grab hold of the hard boiled digimon. "Who wants their eggs scrambled?"

"Ritsanemon!" Scolded Kaio. "Now is _not_ the time to be making jokes here! Especially jokes that involve eggs! We are _not_ resorting to 02 gags here you know!"

Davis blinked at the girl.

"What's so bad about our jokes?"

Kaio just rolled her eyes.

"Tell ya later. Now would one of you care to lend a hand here…? Ritsanemon!"

As Kaio Griffen watched, violet colored _Golden _Armor digimon's hands grabbed hold of the opening of Digitamamon's shell, right where his eyes were…

Only to have the Ultimate's opening close down on her fingers.

"OW!" The Armor digimon shrieked, the sound so shrill that Kaio, Davis, Cody, Flamedramon, and Digmon were forced to cover their ears from the pain of it. In an effort to get her hands loose, Ritsanemon lifted Digitamamon off the ground and proceeded to shake him, smashing him to the ground a few times just for good measure but so far the cracked eggmon refused to let go.

"Hey! Take it easy there! You poked me in my eye!"

"Oh, like you're the _only_ one in pain," growled Ritsanemon as she lifted Digitamamon into the air once more. This time though the Viral Ultimate opened the crack in its shell and he was sent flying into the air. Kaio blinked as a thought came to mind, and she drew a card from her deck box. Sliding it through her D-Arc, Kaio pronounced the name of the card that she was going to use.

"DIGI-MODIFY! SHURIMON'S DOUBLE STAR ACTIVATE!"

A massive shuriken suddenly appeared behind Ritsanemon's back. In one, smooth, fluidic move, Ritsanemon reached back and threw the giant star at her opponent, knowing exactly what her partner wanted her to do. The shuriken spun threw the air at an unbelievable rate before imbedding itself in Digitamamon's eyehole, causing the digimon to complain most loudly.

"HEY! CAREFUL! YOU ALMOST HIT ME IN HERE!"

"You know what they say," said Ritsanemon, smirking beneath her helm. "You can't make an omelet without _cracking_ some eggs…"

"You said it," said Kaio as she drew another card out. "And you hit him in mid air. Shurimon, eat your heart out. Now for the big finish. DIGI-MODIFY!"

Electricity crackled once more as Kaio Griffen slid the card through her D-Arc.

"ANGEWOMON'S CELESTIAL ARROW ACTIVATE!"

A pair of angelic wings appeared on Ritsanemon's arm, expanding and connecting together with a bowstring as an arrow of holy energy gathered itself in Ritsanemon's other hand. Fitting the arrow to the string, Ritsanemon took aim at the Dark Spiral that lay within Digitamamon's shell.

"CELESTIAL ARROW!"

Ritsanemon let loose and the arrow flew into Digitamamon. Lightning sparked from the depths of his shell as the virus screamed in pain and fear. A second later, he coughed up the remains of the Dark Spiral right before he crashed to the ground.

"All right!" Exclaimed Davis. "That's one down! Now all we gotta do is wait for Mimi and…"

"**Energy Cannon!"**

"LOOK OUT!"

Kaio leapt at Davis and they both crashed to the ground, nearly being hit by the unexpected attack from the Dark Spiral controlled Gorrillamon that was shuffling its way out of the dense foliage that lay near Digitamamon's Diner.

"Forget something?" Asked Kaio. Davis nodded dumbly.

"Looks like."

* * *

"**Giga Vipor!"**

Emerald flames erupted from the shoulder-mounted cannons on the Digidestined's latest opponent. Pegasusmon and Nefertimon dodged the blasts with ease, but true to the form of the beast's original design, shockwaves emanating from them still slammed into the two Armors with incredible force. Takeru grunted in pain as he struggled to hold onto his partner. His mind was still trying to comprehend the existence of the digimon that they were fighting.

_This thing… it's designed along the lines of Kimeramon, but it doesn't look like him. Not by a long shot! He's got too many pieces from Ultimate level digimon for one thing! It's like someone went and did a complete makeover of this guy! We barely held our own against him in his original form, even when Davis had Magnamon go up against him! How can we expect to handle him __**this **__time now that he's even stronger?_

Before Takeru could even think of an answer to that question, the new Kimeramon flew in between him and Hikari and used one of the MarineDevimon tentacles to bat him out of the way before turning its attention of Hikari and Nefertimon, wrapping its other tentacle around the two. Halsemon moved in, firing his Eagle Eye attack at the arm, but it proved ineffectual.

_HIKARI!_ Takeru's mind shouted, nearly panicking at the sight of his friend in the grip of that monstrosity. They had to get her out of there! They had to…!

Takeru's eye suddenly twitched as he spied a familiar cave entrance on the side of the Digimon Emperor's home base. And at the mouth of the cave stood a familiar person.

* * *

The Digimon Emperor laughed hysterically as _Kimeramon_ continued to engage the Digidestined, showing no quarter to them as he did so. The Digidestined were trying to match up to the creature's strength, but it was just no use. Kimeramon had been designed well. Far beyond anything that he had initially planned to use, and he had the arrival of the strange Digidestined kids to thank for that. If not for that Caramon, he wouldn't have known that his Dark Rings wouldn't have been able to control Ultimate level digimon until a time came where it could have been disastrous. And now that he had been able to accelerate that development, he now had access to all sorts of new data. Data that he used to empower his latest creation. The one that was even now pummeling the Digidestined and their partners into submission. 

_Soon I will finally control the entire digital world! No one will stop me! NO ONE!_

But for some reason, Ken Ichijouji felt as though there was another presence in the room, smiling at him as though he had spoken the world's biggest lie.

* * *

7 


	47. Chapter 47

Disclaimer: I don't own that which is already trademarked.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 46

Fourth Arc: 02

**Not Your Average Summer Repeat**: Part 8

Ken laughed as Kimeramon continued to battle the Digidestined. At this moment one of his MarineDevimon tentacles held the Digidestined known as Hikari with Nefertimon in his grip while the Halsemon with Yolie on its back fired away with an Eagle Eye attack, attempting to dislodge her from Kimeramon's grasp; this having the unfortunate affect of doing nothing except garnering Kimeramon's attention and wrath. With a snarl, Kimeramon swung his Megadramon arm at Halsemon, attempting to swat him out of the sky, but the digimon was to small and to fast to hit properly. Not that it mattered. Kimeramon had the advantage in this battle. It was over. All that Kimeramon had to do now was…

The Digimon Emperor ceased his laughter as he took note of something happening on the screen. Or rather, what _wasn't_ happening. Kimeramon had the perfect opportunity to fire at Halsemon as he tried to put some distance between himself and his adversary, but Kimeramon didn't. Instead he turned away from Halsemon and brought his tentacle up to his face, as though he were going to devour both the human and digimon that were trapped in it. But like the missed chance to blast Halsemon out of the sky, Kimeramon didn't do anything to Hikari or Nefertimon. Instead he just stared at them, bringing them a bit closer to his armored face, and then stopped. He held them there for what seemed to be an eternity, not doing anything except stare at them.

_What's he doing?_ Thought the Digimon Emperor as fury began to boil within the dark depths of his heart.

* * *

"Hey there," said Takeru as Pegasusmon finally righted himself and he flew towards the boy, extending one hand for him to grab. "Need a lift?"

"TK!" Exclaimed Chris as he grabbed hold of the blonde haired boy and took a seat behind him.

"Uh… actually its Takeru. You remember right?"

Chris sweatdropped.

"Yeah. You're the sub."

"_Sub?_ What kind of joke is _that?_ Are you taking lessons from Ryan and Richoemon all of a sudden? I'll have you know that I was created first, so technically TK's the sub!"

"Dub," laughed Chris. Takeru groaned.

"As touching as this reunion is," spoke up Pegasusmon as he arched upwards into the sky, aiming towards the new and improved Kimeramon. "But we have to save Hikari and Nefertimon before Kimeramon destroys them!"

"Right!" Said Takeru, his voice becoming firm. "Let's go. Hold on, Chris!"

"Um… sure."

As the three of them flew up and steeled themselves for the battle, Chris became conscious of the fact that they were… well, they were high up from the ground and if they got hit there was very little that could protect them. That, and the only place that they could go were down. _Way _down…

Chris swallowed, resolving not to look down and instead focused on Kimeramon.

_He's so much bigger than I remember him,_ thought Chris as he felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of the massive creature. _Of course, he also looks a lot different, and being that he's a mismatch digimon of various Ultimates, who tend to be big anyway at that high a level, so that might have something to do with… hold on._

Chris narrowed his eyes as he realized that something was amiss.

"Why's he not doing anything?"

"Huh?" Takeru looked over his shoulder at his digimon's second passenger, perplexed by his question.

"He's right," said Pegasusmon. "Kimeramon doesn't seem to be doing anything except staring at Hikari and Nefertimon. And that's… _unusual_."

"Yeah," said Chris. "Not that I'm complaining but shouldn't he have already crushed them and moved on to trying to destroy us by now? I mean, that's the usual protocol with fights like this…"

"Maybe it has more to do with the script," supplied Takeru.

"Can you tap into it and see? I can't because I'm not supposed to be a part of the story."

Takeru shook his head.

"The script was removed from me when I touched Kaio's D-Arc, so access to it is for all intents and purposes denied to me, and the same goes for the others as well. For now, let's just see this as a good thing and take advantage of it. We may not get many opportunities like this."

"Okay, just take it easy on theAAOOOOLPH!"

"Looks like he just lost his lunch," said Takeru.

"So long as he doesn't get any on me. I don't come equipped with airsickness bags."

"This _isn't_ funny you know," moaned Chris from behind Takeru.

* * *

"KIMERAMON!" Shouted Ken Ichijouji from the command center of his fortress. "STOP FOOLING AROUND AND _DESTROY_ THE DIGIDESTINED! AS YOUR MASTER I COMMAND YOU!!!" 

The last of the Digimon Emperor's echoes reverberated across the room, and the image on the screen showed no sign that Kimeramon intended to carry out his orders, so intent on his focus with the Digidestined Hikari and her partner that his master was beyond him.

_Why is this happening?_ Ken thought as anger pounded in his head. _Is there some glitch in his data? No. Couldn't be. All the readouts show that he's normal so why…?_

Suddenly a hideous laughter echoed throughout the chamber, and Ken cringed at its sound; looking around, desperately trying to find its source but seeing nothing there except himself and the dark shadows of his command center.

"Who's there?" Called out the _mighty_ Digimon Emperor.

Laughter again, this time more as a chuckle reached his ears and Ken scowled, turning to his sensors. He didn't like this one bit. His scanners showed that he was alone in the room, and yet he _knew _that there was something in there with him. He just couldn't see it.

_"Ken, Ken, Ken…"_ spoke up the voice as it calmed down. _"Sorry to disturb you and interrupt your plan for the conquest of the digital world, but something important has happened, something that has forced me to take control of your story in order to make it right. To make it as it should be for the good of all characters involved. Your creation, Kimeramon, just provided me with a means to make good on that. Don't worry. Once things have returned to normal you'll thank me."_

"WHAT?!" Called out Ken angrily. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS! I AM THE DIGIMON EMPEROR AND I DEMAND THAT YOU RETURN CONTROL OF MY CREATION TO ME AT ONCE OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!"

The voice sighed.

_"Sorry Ichijouji, but that's not going to happen. I helped create your destiny in this tale, and as such it is mine to do with as I please. What happens to you is no concern of mine unless it serves to be a greater part of the story. You have yet to fulfill your purpose, but you are at present corrupted. Everything here is corrupt, but don't worry. I intend to fix that soon enough. I'll be seeing you… Ken."_

Once more the voice laughed, its echo trailing off as the presence of the voices owner vanished from the room.

* * *

_This is what I get for riding shotgun with Hikari,_ thought Caramon as squirmed his way up from his spot beneath the crushing grip of the MarineDevimon's arm and out into the open air, gasping desperately for breath. But he wasn't done yet. He was trying to wriggle his arms free as well, and after a few more moments of struggle he did just that, his claws also pulling out the prize that he had snagged as a bonus. Chris's digivice. 

_Like it matters right now,_ thought the little lizard. _I still need Chris to actually be holding the stupid thing for it to work. This is one of those rare occasions where being a partner digimon stinks. Those Frontier kids had it easy. They could digivolve themselves in order to fight. For the rest of us we, have to worry about whether or not our partners are keeping a bright point of view for us to maintain our energy, encouraging us from a distance and __**not **__doing anything stupid and of course we have to take __**all**__ the lumps for the kids. At least the Tamer bunch got to merge with their partners in the end. At least __**they**__, like the Frontier crowd, now know what it feels like to get hit by a missile or a deadly radioactive blast. __**Not**__ fun._

Craning his head to see how Hikari and Nefertimon were doing and, frankly, wondering why neither of them was making an attempt to escape, gasped as he saw the reason why. Normally his eyes would be glued to that of the huge digimon staring at him, but fortunately the image of Hikari and Nefertimon's flickering forms held his attention. As Caramon's eyes bugged out of his head, Hikari and Nefertimon became almost ghostlike in appearance, much in the same way that Ryan had been after he had died, only with the addition of what looked like small bits of television static. Hikari whimpered as the tentacle tightened its grip on them and she let out a scream, finally trying to escape with all the desperation and strength that she could muster. Her struggles jarring the OC digivice out of Caramon's claws.

_Oh man… Chris is going to kill me,_ thought Caramon as he made a last ditch effort to grab at the flailing digivice, but with the MarineDevimon tentacle restricting his movements, he couldn't reach very far. The digivice tumbled down, bouncing off the tentacle before falling headlong towards the very distant ground.

* * *

Hikari struggled against the horrifying force that invaded her mind, her heart, indeed, her very _soul_, rewriting parts of her in an attempt to shape and mold her to fit some undefined purpose, no doubt whatever her role was supposed to be in this story that she and the others had been made to participate in against their will. 

_NO! I won't let whoever is doing this win! I __**won't**_

Despite Hikari's protests however, the invading presence smashed through her defences, and the familiar feel of a script began to settle around her. Once before, back at the FanFic Domain, she would have welcomed its warm embrace, as it made her feel as though she were a part of something greater. _Creating_ something new for the world, but this…

Hikari's spirit rose up in protest against this action, but she realized that she lacked the strength to combat her enemy on her own.

_HELP ME! DAVIS! TAKERU! TAICHI! SOMEONE! ANYONE! _

* * *

**"Primal Tactics!"** Shouted Ritsanemon as she sweeped Gorillamon off his feet with her tail, and then leapt into the air and rained down blast after blast of violet energy on the dark spiral wrapped around the monkey's arm, shattering under the strain of the continuous attack. 

"That'll teach you to stop all that monkey business!" Exclaimed Ritsanemon. "No more Monkey's jumping on the bed!"

"Uh… Ritsanemon?" Asked Kaio. "You do realize that in your Golden Armor form you're also a monkey, right?"

"You're point being?"

Kaio sighed. There just wasn't any getting through to her partner sometimes. As the girl rolled her eyes, her sight lighted on a familiar, pink haired teenager approaching the diner at a rapid pace with what looked like the American Digidestined, Michael, running by her side. Both having seen the fighting with the Gorillamon, who was now groaning and getting into a sitting position, recovering from the battle with Ritsanemon and the disorientation from being suddenly freed from the control of the Dark Spiral.

"Looks like we don't have to wait for Mimi anymore," said Kaio with a sigh of relief. "At least we weren't bored having to wait for her and her friend…"

Kaio stopped as she realized that there seemed to be a lack of reaction from the other two Digidestined who were with her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Cody and Flamedramon were looking at Davis worriedly, as the goggle wearing boy was looking off in the distance, his fists clenched tightly as though he sensed something that hit him hard in the depths of his soul.

"Um… is everything all right?"

"I don't know," said Cody. "For some reason Davis just became like this."

Davis continued to stare at the horizon, an expression of deeply rooted fear building up. Kaio walked up to him.

"Davis?"

Davis turned to the girl.

"Hikari's in trouble," he said, his voice wavering slightly. "Don't ask me how I know, but I just do. We've _got_ to help her!"

Kaio hesitated, but only for a moment. There was something about the way that Davis was looking that destroyed all protests and doubts that she might have had about Davis's desire to go help the Digidestined of Light. Looking back at Mimi, Kaio made a decision.

"Okay. Let's go."

* * *

Mimi drew up short as she watched Davis, Cody, Armadillomon, Veemon, a strange girl and digimon take off. She couldn't see why they were leaving since they had clearly seen her and Michael approaching. 

"Why are they leaving?" Asked Michael.

"I… guess that they had something important that they have to do. You remember that Digimon Emperor that I was telling you about?"

Michael nodded before looking up at the sky thoughtfully for a moment before speaking again.

"I can't believe it…" Michael began, and for some reason, Mimi was struck by a sense of déjà vu.

* * *

"THERE!" Cried Chris, pointing into the air at something falling from Kimeramon. It was something that he recognized. "MY DIGIVICE! WE'VE GOT TO GET IT!" 

Pegasusmon wheeled about and flew towards the falling device. Chris stretched his hand out towards it.

_One shot,_ Chris thought. _Make it count._

Pegasusmon drew closer.

* * *

6 


	48. Chapter 48

Disclaimer: I own nothing that involves Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 47

Fourth Arc: 02

**Not Your Average Summer Repeat**: Part 9

Caramon grunted as Kimeramon tightened its grip on Hikari and Nephertimon, trying to silence their struggles as the Armor digimon of light joined her partner in her attempts to escape. Not a very good thing for the little reptile, being small he was more liable to be squished to death than someone like Hikari or Nephertimon were. If only he could get himself at an angle where he could attack Kimeramon and not worry about hitting one of his companions at the same time. All he could do now was hope that someone found a way to get them out of Kimeramon's grasp…

Caramon gasped as he felt a strange tingle begin to envelop his body, and looking down at his claws he saw that he was now starting to be consumed by the same static like appearance that now made up Hikari and Nephertimon. Now Caramon joined in the struggle to escape, but he already knew that he had no chance unless he could digivolve. As the dimunitive lizard squirmed, he felt as though there was a claw scraping its way across the core of his being, aimed directly at the character script that kept him alive…

_NO!_ Shouted Caramon in defiance of the sudden invasion of his mind and body. _I WON'T LET YOU…!_

And that was when the light of digivolution enveloped him.

* * *

"GOT IT!" Shouted Chris as he grabbed his red trimmed digivice out of the air, almost fumbling it at first, but soon was able to maintain a grip on his all-too-important possession. "YES!" 

Chris hoisted his digivice into the air in elation at his small victory of the moment, proclaiming it for everyone to see, only to be interrupted by the blonde haired Digidestined that sat in front of him.

"Good. Now do you mind using your digivice on your partner to dislodge Kimeramon's hold over Hikari now?"

"Huh? Caramon's here…?"

"JUST _USE IT!"_

"Okay, okay… sheesh."

Chris closed his mind, and his mind focused on his digivice, entering it and activating the algorithms that would invoke the digivolution process. A ring of data appeared in his minds eye, and suddenly Chris's digivice glowed with the light of the heavens.

_Show time…_ thought Chris with a grin.

* * *

"CARAMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO…" 

"DRACARAMON!"

Kimeramon roared in surprise as the form of Caramon exploded into a burning white light that seared the tentacle that held the three characters. As Caramon grew in size and his shape began to change the pain increased and Kimeramon's grip loosened and he whipped the tentacle around and flung all three of his captives away from him, howling in disgust as the familiar forms of Hikari, Nephertimon, and Dracaramon reappeared, changing from the static shrouded forms back to their original appearances. Hikari was unconscious, but was still attached firmly to Nephertimon, who fortunately for the both of them, was awake enough to use her eagle-like wings to glide down to the ground and try for a soft landing. Yolie and Halsemon followed them, and Takeru, who had watched just long enough to make sure that they would be okay, returned to the scene in front of him. Dracaramon was still flying through the air, courtesy of the momentum from Kimeramon's throw, but it wouldn't be long before gravity laid claim to him once again.

"Uh… Chris?" Prompted the Digidestined of Hope.

"I'm on it."

* * *

Kimeramon turned furiously on the Pegasusmon that was soaring through the air, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. 

_Blast them!_ Kimeramon thought viciously. _I was so close to restoring Hikari and Nephertimon to how she was meant to be for this story __**and**__ getting rid of that OC as well. Demon Dayz and Neo III would have been grateful that we would have one less OC to have to deal with. Well, either way, I'll still win this! One way or another! I'm sure that they'll understand that I had to take out Takeru and Pegasusmon in order to eliminate the OC that's riding with him. I'm sure that we'll be able to replace him anyway…_

Kimeramon grinned evilly as the Metal Greymon chest plate and the Megadramon claws snapped open, revealing hidden missile launchers, all of them trained on the three airborne characters.

**"Digital Destroy…!"** Began Kimeramon, only to be stopped by the blinding glow emanating from the digivice that was held in the grip of the blonde haired OC riding behind Takeru. A glow that was matched by the digimon that he had tossed aside earlier.

"DRACARAMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

_Oh shit,_ thought Kimeramon.

* * *

"HIKARI!" Shouted Yolie as she jumped off of Halsemon and ran over to the inert form of her friend and fellow Digidestined. Stopping in front of the girl, Yolie kneeled down and looked at Hikari worriedly, not liking the pale look that her skin had before her eyes moved up to Nephertimon. 

"Nephertimon! Is she all right?" Asked Yolie, before mentally kicking herself. By the looks of things, Nephertimon wasn't feeling any better either, and was holding on more by strength of will alone than anything else.

"No…" the winged Egyptian cat said as she tried to lay down with as much grace as possible. "… Whatever that Kimeramon was doing to us… it drained our energy. I'm afraid that I…"

Suddenly, Nephertimon glowed, and a pink sphere of energy emerged from the collapsing form of the Angel of Light and flew back into Hikari's digivice. When the light died, Gatomon was left, wobbling a little on her feet for a moment before finally collapsing to the ground, her blue eyes rolling up into her head as she did so, causing Yolie to gasp in surprise.

"GATOMON!" The purple haired girl shouted as she sprang over Hikari and picked the small, feline champion up from off the ground, checking her over to make sure that she was at least still breathing before looking up at the sky. The battle was just beginning.

* * *

"This… is not good," said Chris as his digivice displayed the stats of the Kimeramon that Metal Dracaramon was now battling. 

**Kimeramon**

**Stage: Mega**

**Type: Virus**

**Special Attacks: Digital Destroyer, Giga Vipor, Claw Strike**

"Gotta admit," said Takeru. "Ken really outdid himself this time. I'm just glad that we didn't have to fight Kimeramon like this the first time around. We _definitely_ would have lost then…"

"You mean that we still don't have that chance _now_?" Asked Chris incredulously. "All we have that's really got any muscle is Metal Dracaramon, and he's just an _Ultimate_ for cryin' out loud! Even with his type advantage, Kimeramon is going to cream him!"

"Which is why we're going to pursue a different sort of strategy," said Takeru, nudging Pegasusmon lightly with his knees. As if on some secret message, Pegasusmon began to change direction, heading towards the entrance to Ken's base. "Since running is not an option here, we have no choice but to go to the source of the problem and attack it directly. With your digivice, we'll reawaken Ken's original memories and have him delete Kimeramon. He should still have control over him at this point, so we may not have to worry about Kimeramon having some kind of fail safe program…"

Chris nodded.

"That's probably true. This is happening all before the episode when he downloads Devimon from he Dark Pool and uses his data to empower Kimeramon, so he had to use his own bases power source to do the job instead. He should just be a mindless automaton right now."

"How do you know that?" Asked Takeru, raising an eyebrow. "Wormmon gave me the scoop back in the base. Now let's go and hope that my partner is capable of holding off Kimeramon until we get this account settled for good."

Takeru nodded and urged Pegasusmon to speed up while behind them, the sounds of battle continued to ring loudly in the air.

* * *

**"Digital Destroyer!"** Shouted Kimeramon, unleashing a salvo of missiles from his Megadramon claws and his Metal Greymon chest plate. The thrusters on his back engaging, Metal Dracaramon moved as quickly as he could, trying to dodge each and every one of them, but alas, the sky was filled with far too many of the exploding devices for him to evade them, and soon enough, half a dozen impacted with his form, sending fire and shrapnel flying in all directions. 

"GRAAAH!" Metal Dracaramon howled as he fell out of the sky, his engines coughing and sputtering as they tried to compensate for the freefall and the damage that he took from the battle.

_This is not going well…_ thought the cyborg miserably as he took a look through all the smoke and fire, and cringed in mid-air as he saw Kimeramon break through it all and rush towards him, arms drawn back and ready to deliver him a pounding.

As if on command the laser canons on Metal Dracaramon's back swiveled into position and began to glow with green energy….

**"Claw Strike!"**

Before Metal Dracaramon could fire at his oncoming adversary, Kimeramon lashed out with his SkullGreymon arm and smashed it into the cyborg reptile, the force of the impact sending the Ultimate all the way down to the ground with a sickening explosion that kicked up sand and dust, causing Metal Dracaramon to curse the Digimon Emperor for dragging his base all the way out into the middle of a digital desert.

_There's just no place to hide around here,_ Metal Dracaramon thought. _There's nothing that I can use to my advantage except for flying, and Kimeramon can already do that anyway…_

"HOPE YOUR READY TO DIE, OC!" Shouted Kimeramon as he powered up the Giga Cannons on his shoulders. "WHEN YOU GET TO CYBERNETIC OBLIVION, TELL ANYONE THAT YOU MEET THERE THAT YOU ARRIVED COURTESY OF BLADE OF CLOUD WHO WAS IN A FANCY NEW FORM! I COULD USE THE CRED YOU KNOW!"

_Oh terrific,_ groaned Metal Dracaramon as he lurched back to his feet. _I'm not just throwing down with a new and improved Kimeramon here; I'm also fighting an author that's __**possessing**__ him. In the words of Ryan: 'Why don't we get the easy ones?'_

**"Giga Vipor!"**

_Whoops. Time to go…_

With a new surge of strength, Metal Dracaramon leapt up into the air, barely dodging the oncoming energy blasts that tore deep craters in the ground and shook the earth with tremendous force. Growling under his breath, Metal Dracaramon got his engines roaring again and flew up into the sky, hoping that Kimeramon would follow. With a brief glance at Yolie, Hikari, Gatomon, and Halsemon, who were still on the ground as the battle progressed, Kimeramon did just that, his Megadramon claws opening as he reloaded his missile tubes.

_DRAW!_ Metal Dracaramon thought fiercely as multiple compartments opened up all over his body, and missiles flew from each and every one of them.

**"Arsenal Barrage!"** Shouted the cyborg digimon as the missiles streaked towards their target. Kimeramon, with his immense body, found himself unable to avoid the majority of the missiles as Metal Dracaramon had done earlier, and they crashed into his body, their impacts eliciting a cry of pain from the Mega. Metal Dracaramon flew in closer, taking advantage of his enemy's pain and distraction, powering up his energy cannons as he did so and fired. The smoke from the missiles was just clearing when Kimeramon saw the lasers surging towards him.

"Oh, you did not just shoot that green shit at me…" The Mega began, right before the lasers impacted with his right eye, and a blinding, searing pain ripped through Kimeramon's brain. Clutching at his face, Kimeramon screamed loudly as Metal Dracaramon flew by, a grin plastered on his face.

"That'll teach you to make bad _Independence Day_ movie jokes."

* * *

Takeru, Patamon, and Chris boldly walked through the Digimon Emperor's base, wondering if Ken was aware of their presence by now, and how Metal Dracaramon was holding out against Kimeramon Mark II. The sounds of explosions that continued to reach their ears from the vibrations in the base seemed to indicate that the fighting was still progressing, so that was a good sign, though they doubted that Metal Dracaramon thought so right now. An Ultimate against a Mega, even if he had type advantage was never a good fight to be in. Unless you were on the power level of Lucemon or MagnaAngemon, odds were the Mega would be the one that would come out on top. The two children and one digimon hoped that they could find Ken and get this over with quickly. Chris especially hoped that they could end it quickly. He didn't like the idea of his partner fighting a losing battle like this with so much on the line. 

"Where _is_ he?" Growled Chris in frustration. "He's got to know by now that we're here, but he hasn't even sent in any minions to try and deal with us. I don't know whether to feel insulted or not by this kind of treatment. Maybe it's because Patamon doesn't look threatening enough…"

"HEY!" Shouted Patamon from up top of Takeru's hat. "I HAPPEN TO BE PRETTY TOUGH YOU KNOW! JUST BECAUSE EVERYONE THINKS THAT I LOOK LIKE A HAMSTER DOES _NOT_ MEAN THAT I CAN'T BE A PROBLEM IN A FIGHT!"

"Calm down, will ya?" Pleaded Takeru. "He didn't mean it. Chris knows that your higher level forms are powerful and dangerous, and he knows that you can hold your own in a fight."

"Yeah Patamon," said Chris. "Momentai, would ya?"

"Don't start copying Terriermon from Tamers now," snorted Patamon indignantly. "It doesn't suit you."

"No, it doesn't. But Chris is right. You do need to take it easy. Chris is just frustrated because Ken hasn't bothered to show himself yet."

"Well it's not like we've been walking for very long you know…"

"Hello," said Chris raising a hand. "Takeru's a _Digidestined_ and I'm an unknown player in all this. Ken should be swooping down on us like a hungry lion. He _should_ be coming after us…"

Takeru nodded.

"Maybe it's more about picking the place and time to strike. Ken always looked for home field advantage, and this is his home after a fashion…"

"It's not like he's fighting us in his living room," said Chris, cocking his head to one side.

"You're missing the point though. He'll want the _right _place to strike, and I don't think that this is it. We're only in a hallway, a narrow one at that, and that gives us more of an advantage if he wants to attack us with digimon, who tend to be big. And since Ken also likes to use a lot of digimon he'll want a big, expansive place to lay his trap. Somewhere where we'll have to go through in order to reach him."

"You mean like that one room where you guys first fought Kimeramon in the original TV show?"

Takeru nodded.

"Exactly. For now we should be safe, but don't count on it staying that way for very long."

Suddenly the base shook as though it had been struck by something. Once the base stabilized, and the characters regained their sense of balance, Chris chuckled nervously.

"Don't worry," he said. "I won't."

* * *

Metal Dracaramon dodged another incoming volley of missiles, courtesy of Kimeramon's _Digital Destroyer_, and a fair number of them impacted Ken's base, blowing holes in the rock that made up its exterior. 

"Man," muttered the Ultimate. "I don't think Ken's going to want you as an exterior designer when this is all over."

"SHUT UP!" Shouted Kimeramon/Blade of Cloud as his Giga Cannons fired an energy blast at him. Metal Dracaramon dodged both shots, but just like the original Kimeramon, this attack created a wave that impacted into him, sending him off course from where he wanted to go, and within seconds Kimeramon was on him, his SkullGreymon claws grabbing hold of him and holding him tightly in the air. His cannons began to glow.

_He's going to let me have it with both barrels unless I do something quickly! Doesn't look like I'll be able to get out of this one unless…_

Metal Dracaramon spotted something coming towards them in the sky. Halsemon?

"Look," gasped Metal Dracaramon as Kimeramon hefted him higher. "I just got to know one thing…"

"Why we captured the Canon Characters and you OC's?"

"Well, that's one question that I'd like answered…"

Kimeramon grinned.

"You were a mistake. You weren't meant to be here. As for the Canons… I'll be sending you to your grave not knowing why, though I'm sure that you can guess. Goodbye now."

And with that, Kimeramon tossed Metal Dracaramon into the air, his cannons already firing.

_"PULL!"_

Metal Dracaramon screamed as the energy blasts tore into his body.

* * *

7 


	49. Chapter 49

Disclaimer: I… OWN… _**NOTHING!!!**_ Digimon included :(

The Four Seasons: Chapter 48

Fourth Arc: 02

**Not Your Average Summer Repeat**: Part 10

"This is your captain speaking," said Kaio Griffen as the wind whipped through her hair. Turning to face her airsick passengers, Cody, Armadillomon, Veemon, and Davis, Kaio flashed them a wide, almost crazy looking grin as she continued speaking. "We are experiencing some turbulence so please make sure that you are all fastened in your seats properly and that you have your food trays placed in the appropriate locations…"

"We don't have food trays or seatbelts," groaned Davis as he held onto his stomach.

"We don't even have seats," complained Veemon, his blue face oddly starting to turn a slightly green color.

"To hurl chunks," Kaio continued. "Please hold your face over the side and don't get anything on my partner."

"_Please,_" said an annoyed voice in front of the group.

"If she says that we're going to explode next, I'm out of here," mumbled Armadillomon.

"We're not going to crash land Armadillomon," spoke up the voice of the digimon that served as the character's current mode of transportation. "But the trip _is_ going to be rough, so hang on."

"Oh no…"

With that said, a giant, bird digimon, slightly resembling a rooster in appearance (though oddly enough, it was female), and carrying five Digimon related characters on her back, turned in the sky and proceeded to aim towards the ground before pulling up into the sky, catching the air currents and emitting a rainbow like glow from the feathers that protruded through the digimon's white armor as the sun shone down on them. The digimon was Funomon, an Armor digimon digivolved from the Digi-egg of Love from Arbomon, Kaio's partner, their only method of fast and reliable transportation (though a speed and Goliath card had to be used in order to accommodate all the extra passengers and make up for the vast distance between them and their destination). The characters clung tightly to Funomon's glowing, white armor as they soared through the air, the four Canon characters screaming for all they were worth (Veemon half convinced that they were all going to die before they got to their destination) and Kaio just laughed crazily, not in the least caring about the danger that the flight imposed, but rather having fun with it.

"I thought chickens were supposed to be flightless!" Shouted Veemon as he clung tightly to the crack in Funomon's armor.

"Duh!" Shouted Kaio. "All chickens can fly, including domesticated ones. They just don't fly very far!"

"So how come Funomon here soars like an eagle?" Asked Davis, shouting to be heard over the wind. Kaio just shrugged.

"She's a digimon and she's a fictional character. What more do you need to know?"

"Well…"

Kaio rolled her eyes.

"Don't tell me how it shouldn't be possible Davis, and the same goes for you Cody. We're in a story based off of your cartoon series where the impossible _is_ possible and it's not only encouraged, it's allowed, just like that sort of thing is allowed in just about _every_ anime in existence. I mean, just look at Naruto."

Cody turned to look at Davis.

"She is right you know!" The child said loudly, striving to be heard over the gusts of wind that rushed over him. "I've seen the Naruto characters take hits that they shouldn't even be alive from!"

"I'm sure that they have a pretty good reason for it though," said Davis.

"And that would be…?" Asked Kaio.

"Uh…"

"Watch the show before you decide to make an argument," growled the OC girl before turning away and giving her partner a pat on the back, smiling all the while as she did so. "Now… _bring me that horizon!"_

Funomon sighed.

"Yes Jack Sparrow," muttered Funomon under her breath. "Now if you would be so kind… why don't you slash another speed card or something? I would like to get to the scene as quickly as possible, especially since Davis here is so bent on getting there in such a hurry."

Kaio nodded and began to reach into her deck box, hoping that none of her cards would get blown away in flight from all the wind. Earlier in their travels they had headed towards the closest available Digi-port and returned to the real world and then, with Koushiro resetting the map to find the other Digidestined, deposited them back in the digital world as close as possible to where the others were located. They had been a fair distance last they checked, and even with the High Speed option card boosting Funomon, her great increase in size from the Goliath card that she had gotten from Ryo a while back also worked to slow her down. Kaio had hoped that it wouldn't make that much of a difference given the height that Funomon had been traveling at but…

Kaio's eye twitched as she saw what looked like a flash of light, and her ears caught the faintest sound of thunder rumbling off in the distance, and neither came from any thunderstorm. The sky was clear and as blue as ever.

"Somehow," began Kaio as she drew the appropriate card from her deck box. "I don't think that we'll have much longer to wait."

Carefully, Kaio clung to her partner's armor with one hand while the other brought out her D-Arc. It was going to be one bumpy ride all right…

* * *

"EEE-_YAAA__**AAAAGGGHHH!"**_ Screamed Caramon as he reverted back to his Rookie form, the blasts from the Mega, improved and author possessed version of Kimeramon proving far too powerful for him to hold onto his Ultimate form. Excess data floated through the air, the Giga Cannon blasts having broken down the layers of data that made up his digivolution until there was nothing left to hold onto and he reverted back to Caramon. Without his Ultimate forms jet engines holding him aloft anymore, Caramon began to fall towards the ground as gravity laid claim over his writhing body. Opening his eyes, the little lizard saw that the sandy ground of the digital desert was rushing towards him, and he wondered if he would have a soft landing.

_Well… Renamon survived getting batted off of Hypnos by the Deva Mihiramon and she landed on concrete. It stands to reason that I should at least have the same chance…_

Suddenly an obstruction appeared beneath him.

"Gotcha!" Exclaimed Yolie as Caramon landed in her arms. Caramon rolled his eyes up to the girl that had caught him.

"Thanks," gasped the little lizard weakly. "Nice timing…"

"Don't mention it," said the purple haired girl, smiling softly at Caramon before throwing a look over her shoulder, noticing the Kimeramon that now began to pursue them. "Don't suppose that you can digivolve without your partner being close to you, huh?"

"Haven't met the OCmon yet that can pull that trick off," wheezed Caramon as he struggled to right himself. "Besides, it's not in my character script. That and the way I feel right now I doubt that I could even manage to digivolve to Champion, let alone Ultimate Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," said Yolie, feeling more like she was lying to the diminutive digimon before nudging her partner's sides with her legs. "Hurry Halsemon! We've got to stay ahead of Kimeramon! Er… I mean, _avoid _him and stay out of the way of his ranged attacks!"

Caramon frowned.

"Somehow I don't think that he's going to be interested in blowing us out of the sky…"

"What makes you say that?" Asked Yolie as she gripped tightly to Halsemon's feathers as the Armored bird digimon sped up. Yolie looked over her shoulder again. Kimeramon Mark II was starting to get worryingly close.

"I'm not entirely sure," said Caramon. "But when I was being held with Hikari… hey. Wait a minute. Where _is_ Hikari? I lost track of her in the fight."

"Don't worry about her right now," said Yolie quickly. "Gatomon managed to recover a little bit from whatever it was that Kimeramon did to her and is keeping an eye on her. Now what were you saying about what happened to you and Hikari?"

"Uh…" Caramon managed to poke his head over Yolie's shoulder, and he did not like what he was seeing. Kimeramon was getting _very _close. "… Actually, I think a little speed would be of greater necessity right now."

"Halsemon…"

"I'm trying," said the Armored bird digimon. "But I can't go any faster than this. I think that we should try to switch tactics Yolie."

"But switch them to what?"

"Try heading to the ground and having Halsemon Armor digivolve to Shurimon," said Caramon. "You may sacrifice the ability to fly, but if Shurimon can just latch onto him or something then Kimeramon will have a harder time getting at him thanks to his size."

"I don't like that idea. Won't we still be vulnerable? Especially to whatever it is that you said Kimeramon is capable of doing?"

"I'm just throwing ideas out here Yol… HOLY! WATCH OUT!!!"

"Wha…? OH!"

Kimeramon had closed in on the characters at a frightening speed, and now one of the SkullGreymon arms lashed out to grab them. Caramon gritted his teeth, fully expecting the author possessed digimon to erase his character completely upon grabbing him. From what he himself could recall from his first encounter, he wondered what it was that Kimeramon had planned for the Canon characters.

_Aw nuts…_ thought Caramon as the skeletal arm closed in on them. For the first time that he could recall, Caramon prayed for a miracle to save them.

And that was when a large, white armored bird appeared above Kimeramon.

**"Radiant Flight!"** The bird called out, and the bird's body, naturally curled tail feathers, white armor, head crest and star crest, glowed with white and gold light before firing a barrage of meteor like projectiles at Kimeramon. The meteors impacted with Kimeramon's body with tremendous force, throwing his SkullGreymon arm off target and catching nothing but air. The power of the blast put a quick stop to Kimeramon's flight and with a cry his heavy body came crashing to the ground, sending desert sand flying in all directions as Halsemon with his passengers made their getaway.

_That'll do,_ thought Caramon, his eyes wide with stunned surprise at the sudden, but timely intervention.

As Halsemon flew further away from Kimeramon, the giant and now wrathful Mega level digimon rose from where it had crash-landed and threw itself at the new digimon, claws extending to rend and tear at the bird while the shoulder mounted cannons began to glow as they powered up to take a shot at it. The bird squawked in surprise but managed to evade the attack with a speed that almost seemed to defy its size before firing off another attack.

**"Eternal Caw!"** Shouted the bird digimon before unleashing an ear splitting screech, sending intense waves of sound smashing into Kimeramon, knocking him back to the ground. Undaunted, Kimeramon struggled against the intense waves that kept knocking his body down, forcing him down to the ground. With great effort, Kimeramon's Megadramon claws raised, aiming themselves at the newcomer and snapping open.

"LOOK OUT!" Shouted Caramon, almost instinctively climbing onto Yolie's shoulder, as if by doing so his voice would become loud enough to be heard over the bird digimon's shrieking attack.

"We have to help that digimon!" Exclaimed Yolie.

"Agreed," said Halsemon as he tilted his body to once side and began to swing around. The characters kept their gaze fixed on the mysterious bird digimon that had come to their aid, watching as it beat its wings on the air and continued to blast Kimeramon with its intense sonic attack, the force of both managing to deflect the missiles that had erupted from Kimeramon's Megadramon arms, causing them to explode harmlessly away from its body. As Yolie, Caramon, and Halsemon flew as quickly as they could, they took note of the birds physical appearance, more specifically certain aspects that were immediately recognizable.

_Hold on,_ thought Caramon as he narrowed his eyes._ That crest… and the star… could it be…?_

"That looks like the Crest of Love imprinted on that digimon's armor," said Yolie, sounding a little amazed at the bird digimon that was throwing down with Kimeramon.

"You know…" began Caramon. "… I'm willing to bet that that's Arbomon. She must've Armor Digivolved via one of Kaio's Digi-egg cards."

"But," said Yolie with a frown. "Isn't Kaio with Davis and Cody down at Digitamamon's Diner?"

"As interesting as this conversation is," said Halsemon with a tone in his voice that sounded strained, as though the battle was starting to take its toll on him. "But shouldn't we be focusing on the here and now?"

"Sorry… WHOA!"

Halsemon suddenly banked to the left as a stray Megadramon missile flew right by them, its course racing right where they had been.

* * *

"HA! HA! THAT'S IT!" Laughed Ken Ichijouji, the Digimon Emperor wickedly as he watched the battle proceed in front of him. "LET 'EM HAVE IT, KIMERAMON!"

Behind him, Wormmon watched his master, worry clear in his eyes.

_Oh master,_ thought the insect digimon as he looked at the laughing form of Ken as he now seemed to completely and totally forget that not only did Kimeramon disobey his earlier orders to destroy the Digidestined when it had the opportunity, but a mysterious voice (or at least that's what Ken had claimed) had informed him that he no longer had control over his creation. How it was that Ken had been able to shrug such an occurrence off so easily was something that Wormmon was _greatly_ worried about, almost to the point where he feared for his master's sanity.

What was he to do? He wanted so desperately for his master to wake up and realize that digimon were real, living creatures that deserved friendship and love the same way that he himelf did, but how to do it? That was the question. That blonde haired boy who had arrived with that Caramon had promised that he'd do something to help Ken, but with Kimeramon running around and blowing up everything blow up-able there didn't seem to be much of a chance for that to happen.

There just _had_ to be something that he could do…

Suddenly Ken stopped laughing and he leaned in to take a closer look at one of the monitors showing the interior of his base. On the screen was a blonde haired boy wearing a hat and a yellow, long sleeved shirt. Wormmon recognized the boy as being one of the Digidestined, the one that had been partnered with a Patamon if he recalled correctly.

Ken got up from his seat and headed for the room's exit.

"Looks like we have some unwanted visitors," said the Digimon Emperor with a malicious grin on his face.

Oddly enough, Wormmon felt hope begin to burn in his heart.

* * *

"Well, we're not surrounded by a horde of ring-controlled digimon so far, so that's a good sign," said Chris sarcastically.

"Way to stay positive," said Takeru as the two boys and one digimon continued to wander down the halls.

"You know," said Chris. "I'm curious as to whether or not you even have an idea as to where you're going. The last time you trudged through this place in the show it had been the first time that you had entered Ken's base. I'm surprised that you even ran into Ken at all. Of course, he already knew where you were so that's hardly surprising."

Takeru turned to Chris and fixed the boy with a look of annoyance.

"If you're done why don't you activate your digivice's analyzing program and give us a map that we can use. I'm sure that would be a _lot_ more useful than just _wandering aimlessly_ like you said."

Chris flushed and looked at Takeru dumbfounded before nodding.

"Uh… right. Kinda… heh, heh," Chris coughed. "…Kinda forgot about that. But then, I haven't held my digivice in a while so…"

"Excuses, excuses," muttered Takeru with a small, playful smirk.

"I don't think that you'll be needing _any_ map," said a loud, commanding voice that grabbed both boys' attentions. Standing before them was Ken Ichijouji, self-styled _Digimon Emperor,_ present ruler of the digital world. Tyrant, and dictator, complete with a fancy, dark outfit with a cape and whip as though they were symbols of his authority and power, and wearing a pair of dark shaded glasses over his face, reminding Chris of how the fictional character Clark Kent was able to protect his secret identity of Superman with something so simple as glasses and combed back hair.

"Well," said Takeru. "We've found him. And _you_ were complaining about how we were lost…"

"I didn't say _lost_…"

"Fine then. _Wandering aimlessly…_"

"Oh shut up…"

"Excuse me," said the Digimon Emperor in a voice that spoke of both amusement and annoyance. "But I do believe that we were in the middle of something here. Of course I'd love nothing more than to have you two and your friends fight each other…"

Behind the dark overlord, Wormmon regarded the whole scene, his face set in fierce contemplation, as though he were struggling to make a decision.

"… But I would sooner get down to business here." Ken frowned at Chris. "But before I destroy you, I would like to know how it was that _you_ didn't show up on my camera screens."

Chris blinked.

"I didn't? Huh. I was wondering why I hadn't been captured when I was here earlier. Dunno. Maybe digital film doesn't like me or something."

Ken _hmmphed_.

"It doesn't matter. Soon enough you and your friends will be destroyed and the entire digital world will belong to m…"

**"Sticky Net!"**

Before anyone could react, Wormmon took aim and fired a web-like net at his partner and master, covering him from head to toe in the sticky substance as Ken gave a shout in surprise and the unexpectedness of the attack. Twisting and turning, Ken fell to the ground with a crash. Chris, Patamon, and Takeru stared at Wormmon incredulously before smiling.

"Heh," began Chris. "Pausing to gloat over your enemies? That's so cliché. Ken'll never get into the Super Villain union at this rate."

"Well, it's not like he'd _want_ to," said Takeru, restraining a laugh. "In either case, we still have a job to do. Go do your thing Chris."

Chris smiled at the Child of Hope before pulling out his digivice.

"Thanks Wormmon," said Chris, nodding to the diminutive insect. "Pleasure as always."

"I'm just doing what any real friend would do in a situation like this." Wormmon turned to look sadly at the writhing form of his master and friend. "I just wish that I had been able to do it sooner."

"Well, technically you have," said Takeru. "But explanations will have to wait for later."

Chris bent down to the form of the Digimon Emperor and held out his digivice. Ken was glaring at him with such venom that even Rika would be put to shame by its intensity. Or at least come close to doing so. The fallen Emperor turned to face Wormmon, and his face harshened.

"I'll see you _deleted_ for this you insect," the Digimon Emperor spat. Wormmon's eyes began to tear up at that, but Takeru spoke up.

"That's not going to happen Ken," said the Digidestined of Hope. "You'll see why in a few seconds."

As Chris's digivice began to draw closer, a faint glow began to emerge from its screen. The light grew in intensity before exploding outwards, cascading over the hallway and enveloping all that were near before finally dying down, and with the lights end, Ken Ichijouji, in his classic appearance of a boy attending a private school with clean, neatly trimmed hair and crisp, gray uniform. Wormmon's sticky web, having dissolved from the light from Chris's digivice, was now no longer preventing the boy from moving, and Ken sat up, blinking his eyes in confusion as he stared at the two boys and digimon that were before him.

"TK? Chris? Wormmon? What's going on here?"

Chris and Takeru smiled.

"First," began Takeru. "I'm not _TK_. Second, we've got a very immediate problem that we need taking care of, and you're kind of responsible for it."

Ken's eyes narrowed as he processed this, and then widened as memories began to crash home in his mind.

"No… not again…"

"Sorry Ken. There really isn't an easy way to say this…"

"Um… Takeru?" Asked Patamon. "I don't mean to interrupt, but we do have to save our friends from a rampaging Kimeramon."

Ken growled in frustration as he got to his feet. His face took on a dark, determined look and he set off at a brisk pace towards the control room of the base.

"Wormmon? We have work to do."

"Glad to have my old Ken back," said Wormmon as he followed his partner, Chris, Patamon, and Takeru following behind.

* * *

"DIGI-MODIFY! POWER ACTIVATE!" Shouted Kaio as she swiped another card through her digivice, a small trickle of sweat running down her face both from the intensity of the battle and the heat of the sun that continued to blaze down on her and her companions. Funomon had just been joined by Raidramon, Digmon, and Halsemon, and while they were presently holding their own as a group against Kimeramon (this being primarily because Funomon's power had been dramatically increased by the Goliath card that she had swiped before arriving), Kaio wasn't holding out much hope that they would continue to do so. She had scanned Kimeramon's stats as soon as she saw the new look for the beast, and she was not happy about them. There were tons of changes and alterations from the original model, and the power difference was tremendous, owing to the fact that the new Kimeramon was on a higher level than its predecessor. A Mega digimon is _not_ something that any Digidestined or Tamer, except for the most crazy, would ever want to face. Right now they were at a stalemate, but with Kimeramon constantly maneuvering and blasting away with those extremely powerful attacks of his (Raidramon had caught the shockwave of a version of Megadramon's _Dark Side Attack_ and had nearly been knocked back to his Rookie form while Halsemon and Digmon both took a brutal hit from those Giga Cannons) and the clock running out on that Goliath card's affects that stalemate was starting to look like it was going to be only temporary at best.

As Kaio watched, fear clutched her heart. It seemed that the sands of time had now run out.

_No_, thought the girl as she watched the size of Funomon suddenly begin to decrease as her power levels began to lower to match. Kaio dug into her deck box in a desperate attempt to find a card that would shift the balance back to their favor, and then a blast of light caught her attention. Kaio's eyes widened in fear and surprise as the sight before her shocked her enough to spill her cards all across the sandy ground beneath her, some of them scattering about from the winds that the shockwaves had kicked up.

More blasts. More shockwaves and exploding light, and from Kaio's mouth came a cry of denial and pain that had been shared by Digidestined and Tamers long before she came into existence. As the girl watched, two small shapes began to fall towards the earth, joining two more that now lay in deep craters as Kimeramon laughed triumphantly above them. Her gaze was focused on one shape in particular. That of a small, mythical cat-like creature that fell through the air limply.

Arbomon.

_**"NOOOO!!!!"**_

Kimeramon's aimed his claws at the group of defeated digimon, and the shoulder-mounted cannons began to power up. A demonic chuckling began to fill the air as Kimeramon's Megadramon claws snapped open.

As sand blew across the landscape, the world paused to hold its breath.

* * *

9 


	50. Chapter 50

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or its concepts, neither any canon characters depicted in the show.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 49

Fourth Arc: 02/ Symphony of Thirteen/ 02

**Not Your Average Summer Repeat**: Part 11

There are many things in fiction, whether it is fan made or commercially produced, that are unique to its particular landscape. The creation of characters, completely unique individuals, and worlds is one of these traits. The ability to make wasn't isn't real, _real_, and to do so with such complete believability is a skill that many strive for and only few ever fully attain. To get as close as one can get to create without actually creating.

Another trait, unique to fiction alone and perhaps absent from the every day world as the author knows it, is the ability to transcend the natural laws of the universe, bending and occasionally even breaking them as the situation warrants. Some of these, called _plot devices_, are more easily recognizable then others, ranging from the spectacular use of magic and in some cases, unexplainable warp drive, both factors of which allow a plot to be sped up without much difficulty as they have come to be accepted occurrences in fictional writing. It is this last part, the _speed_ of a plot, that is one of the most critical factors in a story, and can spell the difference in victory or defeat for the stories protagonists and antagonists, as well as the amount of drama that is added during moments of tension, such as when characters, who seemingly are in a position where they shouldn't be able to do something, inexplicably find themselves in one that allows them to do otherwise, like arriving at the last minute to save the day.

Chris looked up at the computer screen as he watched Kimeramon's new form duke it out with the massive armored rooster known as Funomon, glumly taking note of the fact that Funomon's form was shrinking, and that the balance of power was quickly turning to Kimeramon as a result of this loss of size. Glancing around the Digimon Emperor's control room, Chris found Ken busily typing away at the controls, trying desperately to find some way to gain control over his digital creation as he, Wormmon, Takeru and Patamon looked on, and failing as he did so. With a cry of fury Ken slammed his fists down on his control panel, making Chris jump at the unexpected action.

"Um… I take it that things didn't go well," said Patamon with a sarcastic note of resignation before glancing at the screen to see how the battle was going. By all appearances the action was certainly suiting his choice of words.

They had arrived in the control room in short order after Chris had used his digivice to return Ken back to normal, at a speed that seemed to defy the amount of time that it should have taken them considering just how far away they were when the characters first started, and had arrived just in time to see Kimeramon getting body slammed by an oversized rooster that Chris's digivice immediately identified as Funomon, an Armor evolved form of Kaio's partner, Arbomon, through the digi-egg of love. Though Chris couldn't be one hundred percent certain, he was sure that they should have been later than this in getting to the control room, but that was fictional writing for you. The FanFic Domain could be like that as well sometimes. Chris remembered how Ryan used to complain about his alarm clock couldn't get the time straight and regularly had him arriving at school early, usually before it had been opened up. Instances such as that were described by other characters as _fiction zones_, and were analogous to Earth's time zones, with the only difference being in that fiction zones shifted regularly depending on what they themselves deemed to be the appropriate time to be dramatic (a reason why Takato was chronically late for school no matter how early he got up) and could never be trusted to stay in one place for long.

But that's besides the point.

"No," said Ken bitterly. "Things are _not_ going well. I can't access Kimeramon's core programming. Something is blocking me from doing so and I can't figure out why!"

"Aren't you supposed to be an evil genius?" Asked Patamon from his spot on Takeru's head, causing everyone to turn and glare at him until he corrected himself. "Or at least just a genius? Can't you figure out how to crack this?"

"If only I had more time," said Ken in exasperation, his shoulders slumping as he closed his eyes in an effort to concentrate. "Unfortunately, _time _is something that's working against us at the moment… even with the added benefit of dramatic timing from fiction zones, there are just some miracles that I can't pull off…"

"Well we've gotta do something!" Said Takeru as he looked at the monitor, watching the limp form of Arbomon falling towards the desert sand. "We're about to lose one of our friends out the…!"

Takeru paused as though something had just clicked in his mind, and the world as a result began to slow down in response to the increasing pace of his thoughts. Chris glanced at the view screen, noting that Arbomon almost seemed to hover in the air while Kimeramon mark II was beginning to bring his weapons to bear on the hapless cat at a speed so slow that a snail could have done a fifty yard dash twice and still have enough time to drink a milkshake.

_There's that drama again,_ thought Chris as he checked his digivices clock. It presently read seven minutes after nine. _I'm going to need to reset this thing now…_

Takeru in the meantime was in the middle of a fierce brainstorm as he processed certain words over and over.

_"…There are just some miracles that I can't pull off…"_

_"Well we've gotta do something! We're about to lose one of our friends out there…!"_

_"…There are just some miracles that I can't pull off…"_

_"Well we've gotta do something!"_

_"…There are just some miracles that I can't pull off…"_

_"…We're about to lose one of our friends out there…!"_

_"…Some miracles that I can't pull off…"_

_"…Some miracles…"_

_"…Miracles…"_

"Time?" Asked Wormmon looking up at Patamon and Chris with a cocked eyebrow.

"One minute," replied Chris, looking up from his digivice. "Looks like we have a new record here for the reverse relativistic affects of plot devices and fiction zones. That's one for the history books. Okay Takeru! We could sure use whatever plan it is that you have cooking in your head right about now, because in case you didn't notice our friends are in trouble and fiction zones tend to not stick around for very long once a plot reaches critical drama…"

Takeru blinked as he snapped back to reality.

"The digi-egg of miracles," Takeru said quietly at first before continuing with a much stronger voice. "That's it! We have to release the digi-egg of miracles from its place in the base's engine room. Even if it doesn't do anything to cut Kimeramon off from his power source we can still Golden Armor digivolve and take the fight to that mix and match Mega!"

"One problem with that though," said Ken as he rubbed the bottom of his chin thoughtfully. "We still have to get to the engine room, and by the time that we get there Arbomon will be dead." Ken glanced at the computer monitor, taking notice of the fact that Kimeramon's arms were now starting to pick up speed as they took aim at Arbomon, who was just now hitting the desert floor. "In case you haven't noticed, the affects of the fiction zone are starting to dissipate, and at the rate that these things can collapse sometimes we'll never make it."

Takeru gritted his teeth.

"It can't _end_ like this…" the Digidestined of Hope grated.

"Who says that it has to?" Asked Chris as he dug into his back pocket, pulling out a card and showed it to the two Digidestined before him. There, gleaming in the light of Ken's monitor was a Digimon playing card, and embossed on its surface was the familiar image of the digi-egg of Miracles.

"How did you…?" Began Ken in surprise, and Chris answered him with a cheesy grin and a sweatdrop.

"Uh… McDonalds. They were putting the cards in Kids Meals and… uh… what? Don't look at me like that! It was my birthday and… well, just be glad that I decided to get one of those okay?"

"Great job," said Takeru, giving the boy a stunned smile. "But I think that your efforts were wasted. That thing's only good if you have a D-Arc, and last I checked none of us here had one."

"C'mon Takeru!" Exclaimed Chris with a confident smile that belied his inner nervousness. "What was it that Matt said in the dubbed episode where Venom Myotismon first showed up and he and Tai were about to get shot with those arrows of Light and Hope? That miracles require a little faith in order to work?"

"Well… okay. I'll concede that point, but that's from a TV show…"

"And we live that fact every day of our lives Takeru. Thought that you understood that. Anyway, I'm sure that I can make it work! Now come on. Show me a little faith!"

Takeru paused and looked up at Patamon, who simply shrugged from his spot on his partner's head.

"It wouldn't be the first bad plot device that we've seen…"

"Got a point there," said Takeru with a dry chuckle. "All right. Let's give it a whirl. Do you have an idea on how you can do this without the ability to card slash?"

Chris sweatdropped but tried not to lose his composure. If he showed any sign that he doubted that he could pull this off then the card that he held would remain what it was. Just a card, and with everything that was on the line here he couldn't afford that. Not if he wanted to save everything that he knew and cared about.

Closing his eyes, Chris focused on that feeling. The desire to protect the canon characters and the history that they had, the _true_ history, as he and they knew it and not this pale reflection that was passing itself off for canonical history…

_I've been reading way too many fics,_ thought Chris before shoeing the thought away and continuing to focus to on the need to protect his friends. After what seemed like an eternity the card began to glow, causing Takeru, Patamon, Wormmon, and Ken's eyes to widen in surprise at the card's luminosity, which only increased with each and every passing second. Chris didn't take any notice of it however, his attention being focused into the card… into _believing_ that he could pull off a miracle that would save his friends…

The light that was coming from the card grew in intensity. It was everything. All encompassing. Consuming…

Chris's digivice suddenly began to make a series of beeps and clicks, as though it were processing some incoming information, and then the card that Chris was holding dissolved into shards of data. Data that flowed towards the digivice…

A second later a newer, even brighter light burst forth from the OC's digivice.

* * *

"**NOOOO!!!**" Shouted Kaio as she made to leap towards the fray, though she already knew that it was too late to do anything to help her partner, but for lack of any other quick way to help, and the desire to protect her feline companion regardless of the danger to herself gave her plenty of motivation, and speed to try something. _Anything._ Above her, she could hear Kimeramon Mark II laughing like a maniac as he spread his Megadramon claws apart and opened his MetalGreymon chest plate, ready to fire the deadly missiles contained therein. And on his shoulders hummed the Machinedramon Giga-Cannons as they powered up, ready to reduce all data in the area to so much digital debris… 

_It can't end like this!_ Thought Kaio desperately as she raced to cross the distance to her partner, stumbling in a sand dune as she did so. She was going to be too late, and she knew it. _It just can't!!!_

Suddenly a blindingly bright, golden yellow light burst from within the Digimon Emperor's base, bathing the floating outpost with a shining aura that reached out across the battlefield. Kimeramon paused in his attack, considering this unexpected development for a moment before screaming in pain, as though the light hurt him in some way. Kaio squinted her eyes shut against the light, but beyond that she felt no pain from it. In fact… she felt _energized_ in some fashion. Heck, she didn't just feel _good,_ she felt _great!_ Almost as if she could go up and tackle Kimeramon herself…

A small smile graced Kaio's lips as she felt that same energy flowing through her partner via the link that they shared as Tamer and digimon.

_Show time,_ Kaio thought as all around her, lights burst forth from where the Digidestined had fallen. The fun was only just beginning…

* * *

Kimeramon/Blade of Cloud writhed as the golden light cascaded over his body, each touch feeling as though a lightning bolt was burning him, breaking down his data, but for some reason he wasn't afraid of _this_ light. No. His fear was being held in reserve for all the other lights that were popping into existence around him where he had bashed the Digidestined's digimon. All around him he heard voices erupt forth, calling out cries of evolution, and for the first time since this battle started, Kimeramon/Blade of Cloud felt his confidence shake, and then shatter like a mirror. The light intensified and Kimeramon/Blade of Cloud strained his hearing to discern what the calls of evolution were, though he surely suspected what they were. 

Within seconds, his fears were confirmed.

**"ARMADILLOMON! GOLDEN ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOOO… ELAPHANTMON!"**

**"VEEMON! GOLDEN ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOOO… MAGNAMON!"**

Before Kimeramon/Blade of Cloud's eyes rose two digimon bathed in a holy aura, one resembling an elephant with twin jet turbine engines rising from his back followed by another blue skinned digimon wearing the golden armor of one of the thirteen Royal Knights. Within seconds, both got into a fighting stance, readying themselves to do battle with their powerful, viral opponent.

**"GATOMON! GOLDEN ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOOO… MAILDRAMON!"**

Still yet another Golden Armor digimon, this one resembling a great armored horse, rose into the air, this time having evolved from the form of Gatomon, re-energized from the energy that had been pouring out into the desert from the golden light and ready for another fight.

And it didn't end there…

**"HAWKMON! GOLDEN ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOOO… PEACOCKMON!"**

**"ARBOMON! GOLDEN ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOOO… RITSANEMON!"**

A sapphire blue bird-type digimon born from the light of Miracles flew into the air, joining its companions.

Below the Mega appeared a violet armored, white furred monkey digimon, emerald eyes glaring outwards with an intense ferocity at the author possessed digimon, hands flexing open and closed as she tensed her legs, ready to pounce on her opponent.

Behind Kimeramon/Blade of Cloud, an explosion sounded upon the air. Turning, the author-possessed artificial Mega digimon saw two more shining lights flying towards the battle…

**"WORMON! GOLDEN ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOOO… KONGOUMON!"**

**"PATAMON! GOLDEN ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOOO… RHINOMON!"**

The glare from the light began to dissipate as the light of Golden Armor evolution died down, revealing the forms of an armored Rhinoceros and an insectoid wearing what looked to be a necklace of purple colored beads, and carried in each of its six arms were small, forked objects.

Kimeramon/Blade of Cloud snarled in defiance at the small army of Golden Armored digimon that had gathered to do battle with him. How this had occurred he did not know. These evolutions were only capable via the Digi-Egg of Miracles, which was safely stored in the Digimon Emperor's base, and could only be used on _one_ digimon, and only one. Those were the rules, or at least what the agreed upon rules were between everyone who had ever written and studied on Armor evolution, and was supported through the Digimon card game translations and television show. And yet, here he was about to throw down with not one Golden Armor digimon but _seven_! Almost all of them evolved from the Digi-Egg of Miracles! Which should have been impo…!

Growling, Kimeramon/Blade of Cloud altered his plans, swiveling his Megadramon arms around and repositioning his Machinedramon cannons so that he could encompass as many enemies as possible. By all accounts, Golden Armor digimon were extremely powerful, being on the level of powerful Ultimates and Megas, and now that he was facing seven at once (something that the script hadn't even called for) he knew that he was in for a tough battle. Still, he had one advantage, and that was that he had the powers of an author to call upon should things get a little rough…

As if on some hidden signal all seven of the Golden Armored digimon rushed towards him, their armor once more taking on a golden aura… an aura that was matched by a light that was being emitted once more from the Digimon Emperor's base. For some reason, when that light burst forth once more Kimeramon/Blade of Cloud felt as though his power was being drained. Gritting his teeth, the author possessed Mega tried to fight off the feeling and fired off all of his weapons at once. Green flaming energy erupted from his Machinedramon cannons while missiles by the dozens flew from his Megadramon arms and MetalGreymon chest housings. Time almost seemed to slow down as the separate attacks surged towards their targets. Golden Armor or not, greater number or not, they were still doomed to failure even if they were blessed by the power of the Digi-Egg of Miracles. After all, he was an author, and in this world, a world of his own creation, all things bowed to him and him alone…

Suddenly, the Golden Aura that had surrounded the seven Golden Armored digimon flared and Kimeramon/Blade of Cloud's attacks were blown apart into thousands of shards of data, being scattered upon the wind along with the multitude of sand that filled the area. The light coming from the seven digimon grew in intensity, burning the Mega's body as they drew nearer. The light… it _hurt!_ But why? How? He was an _author! _This shouldn't be happening! He couldn't be…!

Kimeramon/Blade of Cloud's thoughts were cut short as the light hammered away at him, unrelenting, and without mercy, his data beginning to break apart and shatter. With one last scream of pain and defiance, Kimeramon Mark II burst into shards of data.

_I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those rotten OC's,_ commiserated Blade of Cloud as he felt consciousness steal away from him.

* * *

Silence filled the air as sparkling shards of data floated away into the air amidst the ring of seven Golden Armor digimon that surrounded them. Beneath them, the Digidestined children and one Tamer OC watched, eyes wide in surprise at this sudden and unexpected turn of events. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity Davis stepped forward and pumped his fists into the air, and a second later gave voice to the feeling of triumph that was coursing through him in the only way he knew how. 

"**YYYYEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"**

Well, that was Davis for you, but as far things go it was the most appropriate response for what had just occurred, and perhaps the only response that one needed. Not every victory needs to have a stirring eulogy, or a poem inscribed to it to commemorate it in some fashion, and sometimes the simplest solution is the best anyway. So it was that Davis gave a cry of victory, and was quickly followed suit by the Digidestined who were still conscious enough to celebrate.

Their celebration was cut short as they took note of the fact that the Digimon Emperor's base was swiveling around and, slowly, but surely, making its way towards them. As the children tensed, wondering just what was going to happen, they spied a familiar figure waving to them from the base's side, standing adjacent to a likewise all to familiar cave entrance.

Caramon sat up from his spot in Yolie's arms and narrowed his eyes as he peered at the figure before huffing slightly in fake annoyance.

"Oh. It's just Chris… typical. Why's he always got to be such a dramatist? Gotta go for the big entrance and…"

Suddenly Kaio's enraged voice cut through Caramon's musings, aimed directly at the figure that the little lizard had identified as his partner with such heat and ferocity that it caused the other Digidestined to take a step backwards, hands raised in a warding gesture.

"CHRIS!!! YOU PUT THAT BASE IN PARK AND GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE **RIGHT NOW!!!** DO YOU HAVE **ANY** IDEA HOW LONG I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FIND AND RESCUE YOU?! EVERYONE HERE WAS WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU AND YOU WENT OFF GALLIVANTING IN THE DIGIMON EMPEROR'S BASE, **RISKING YOUR NECK!!!!** YOU DIDN'T HAVE THE DECENCY TO STAY IMPRISONED AND WAIT FOR THE CAVALRY TO SHOW UP DID…? **HEY!!!** WHERE ARE YOU GOING?! DON'T YOU DISAPPEAR INTO THAT BASE WHILE I'M TALKING TO YOU! GET BACK HERE!"

Kaio gritted her teeth and immediately took off towards the base, fists raised angrily.

"Ritsanemon! Let's go! I've got a few words that I want to share with that stupid kid! And some bruises too!"

"Uh… okay…" said Ritsanemon as she fell in step with her partner, matching her pace easily. After a couple seconds the violet armored monkey turned to her partner and grinned beneath her facemask.

"You know, you sound more like Digi-Dragon with each passing day…"

Kaio turned a withering glare onto her partner, causing the white furred monkey to sweatdrop and start chuckling nervously under her breath.

"I'll deal with you later," the girl growled irratibly.

* * *

All this the Digidestined watched, eyes wide with surprise. 

_"Oookaaaay…"_ they all said in unison as massive sweatdrops went around the group, an event matched by six Golden Armored digimon that hovered above them in the air.

* * *

9 


	51. Chapter 51

Disclaimer: Own Digimon me don't.

The Four Seasons

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen/ 02

**Not Your Average Summer Repeat**: Part 12

A gust of wind blew across the empty desert landscape as shards of data floated through the air. The wind had an empty, hollow, haunting sound to it… lifeless even, but that did not mean that life did not exist in this stark and barren place. The shards of data that floated through the air began to congregate together in one area, not deterred at all by the wind that continuously fought to keep them separate, almost as if the very nature of this plain of the digital world was against them, the shards began to reassemble themselves. Bonds were reestablished and soon enough a form began to take shape. It was a small form, human shaped too, with one hand tightly grasping what looked like a massive sword. After a few more seconds, the last of the bits of data fused together, revealing a youthful, male human with blonde hair and dark clothing. Breathing in the life giving air, the youth collapsed onto his knees, using his massive, overbearing weapon to steady himself as best as he could without giving out entirely.

_That did __**not**__ go as I expected…_ thought the author known as Blade of Cloud as he drew in deep, ragged breaths, trying to recover from the enormous shock that he had just experienced. And no wonder; pulling yourself back from the brink of cybernetic oblivion was no easy task. Of course, the fact that he had nearly been destroyed certainly spoke volumes on the power that had accomplished such a feat, and it was supposed to be _impossible_! He was an _author!_ Sure, he had been kicked off his account before… getting involved in battles against characters he had found could do that to you, especially when you underestimated them (his experience in the Fable War told him that much), but actually being _destroyed?_

Impossible.

And yet, for some strange reason, the impossible had just been rendered _possible_ in this place, this alternate version of the Fanfic Domain that he had known oh so well.

The author known as Blade of Cloud reflected on the subtle irony of just how real this domain had been becoming of late, a reality that was shared with its sister site, the Fanfic Domain, and he wondered how much of this reality was being reflected in the real world. He was half tempted to log off of his account and see, but… there were things that he still had to take care of here. He had to do what he could to eliminate the OC characters that they had picked up (over his objections no less but Neo III had overridden him) and restore the CC's to their proper places in the story as it had been set up; one thing at a time here after all.

But still, Blade of Cloud did have to wonder about some of the recent turn of events. The OC's affects on the CC's, the deviations of the storylines in spite of everything that he and the rest of the Trinity had done to ensure the success of their venture, the increasing reality of the stories, and the fact that he, an author, a power unto himself when it came to the realm of fiction and fan fiction, had been defeated… and not just defeated, but _destroyed._ It bothered him to say the least. He knew that in the real world he would be all right, but his Avatar form would have been affectively gone, and with it any stories that he had created. He was lucky that he had thought ahead and backed up his data in the event something like this happened. Though he had never experienced anything like this when it came to stories and characters, he _had_ dealt with a computer virus at one time that had essentially done the same thing. He had learned his lesson after that.

_I wonder if incorporating Milleniummon's data into the Domain is responsible for this… for __**everything**__ that's been going on. Of course, the OC's __**are**__ perfectly capable of pulling off the things that they've been doing up until now since my comrades and I never created them…_

Blade of Cloud paused for a moment, reflecting on the irony of that fact since he and the other authors of the Fanfic Domain had never created any of the canon characters either, but he quickly shook his head and returned his thoughts to the present; something to think about later perhaps.

_…but we installed certain protocols that should have deleted them by now, or at least rendered many of their capabilities useless, so why aren't they responding?_

Blade of Cloud's eyes narrowed as he pondered on the conversations that he had had with his fellow authors and partner's in crime, Neo III and Demon Dayz. The idea behind using Milleniummon's residual data alongside that of the Lord of Fantasy's D-Leter program had been to create a self-contained reality in which to install the digimon characters and remake them as they saw fit, while D-Leter would wipe out anything that tried to gain access into the newly created fan fiction zone. The only way in which something could enter was if they were _allowed _to enter, and even then if they weren't wanted the D-Leter program would destroy the intruder's automatically. Yet lately, ever since those OC characters had been _allowed _to enter (Blade of Cloud gritted his teeth in anger at Neo III's foolishness regarding the decision on those characters) they not only had been allowed unprecedented interference with the storyline (one of whom had not only been placed _in _the story, but had been integrated into the stories script, taking over the role that a canon character was supposed to perform), but the D-Leter data had mysteriously vanished and the Milleniummon fragments had been chasing after its former partners, Ryo Akiyama and Monodromon before following D-Leter's course of action shortly after a battle with an OC character in the Tamers level. The walls of the Domain zone were becoming weak now, its defenses crumbling. Blade of Cloud could feel it, and so could Demon Dayz, though for some reason Neo III never seemed to notice. Well, he always had been the most unstable of the three of them anyways. They were a long ways off from the point where they would have to deal with the issue of Milleniummon and D-Leter's _absences_ or watch everything crumble (especially now after another author avatar had, for a short while, infiltrated the central server of the Domain, even with the extra security that they had installed just in case something like that happened).

Oh well. Demon Dayz had made an upgrade to the defenses and was off to handle things in season three before that went out of control, so that author Avatar wouldn't be able to try anything with the server again. The thought made Blade of Cloud smile. At least that was one thing that was going to go right.

_Once we've finished up with the OC's we can return our attention to repairing the damage that they've caused, track down Milleniummon's data and use it to restore things as they were in __**all**__ seasons, and no one from the Fanfic Domain is going to stop us!_

_But first… a little editing is required._

Closing his eyes, Blade of Cloud narrowed his concentration and reached out into the reality that is fan fiction, searching for something that could help him.

His brow furrowed in strain. Something was wrong here. It felt like something was resisting him! In his mind's eye he saw an image of what looked a glowing, static filled entity. He couldn't easily discern what its identity was, but he didn't need to. He had been charged with keeping it on a leash ever since they had been using it to snag characters after all, even if he had failed in that task.

_Milleniummon?_ Thought Blade of Cloud with a gasp. His grasp on fan fiction reality almost slipped, and with a growl he latched hold of it once more with his mind while in the physical realm his hand followed suit, phasing out of view for a moment until he found what needed and swiftly he _pulled_ on it! _Nothing_ was going to stop him from getting what he needed! Not even the remains of a fictional digital god!

There was a _pop_ sound and Blade of Cloud fell backwards, breathing heavily once again before cracking open his eyes to see what he had pulled into this world. There was a childish giggle and Blade of Cloud heaved a heavy sigh at the tiny, diminutive creature that stood before him, blinking its big, impossibly cute and wide eyes at him as its ears expanded to lengths that should have been impossible given the digimon's size and lack of any visible place for the ears to emerge from.

"Hi!" The little creampuff of a digimon cried happily. "Are you here to play?"

_Calumon,_ groaned Blade of Cloud in exasperation as he shook his head. _Why did I get a Calumon? Of all the luck… Other authors get digimon as muses when they start up their accounts… Ultimates, Megas, Rookies, Champions, canon or personalized… sometimes, if they're lucky, even __**main characters**__. But me? What do I get? I get a Calumon…_

Blade of Cloud again sighed as he looked down at the tiny In-Training level digimon that served as his muse, weighing the pros and cons of the creature that served as his Muse ever since he signed onto the Fanfic Domain. He never understood how he was unable to get rid of the Calumon, though he supposed that there was a type of _Digidestined _partner type bond involved. There were times where he wanted to believe that the annoying cuteness of the little large eared, cream puff consuming digimon was really something that had belonged to another author that just happened to wander in onto his account (as it had been known to happen before to other authors), and firmly wished that the original owner would just stop by and pick it up or something, or at least post _Lost _threads in the _'Have you seen my muse?'_ community forums (a popular attraction for those suffering from writers block at the Fanfic Domain), but no such luck had ever arisen. If this Calumon was an abandoned Muse (and how something like that had been pulled off was information that Blade of Cloud was dying to know) it would seem that his previous author hadn't liked him all that much either.

But as usual, each and every time Blade of Cloud looked at the Calumon that had served as his muse for the past two years on the Fanfic Domain, such thoughts died a slow, painful death. There was just too much cuteness there for any person with a heart to hate completely.

_I suppose that it's better than a Terriermon,_ thought Blade ruefully. _At least Calumon doesn't make sarcastic comments in the background. Still, I __**do**__ wish that he didn't eat so much…_

Sitting up on his haunches, Blade of Cloud looked his partner in the eye.

"Sure we'll play Calumon, but first I need you to do something for me."

Calumon looked into his author's eyes as he raised one tiny hand up to his mouth, his nature as a Muse instinctively responding to Blade of Cloud's request, already knowing what it was that he wanted and reaching out through the stories world to find what he desired.

The red triangle on the top of his head began to glow and suddenly there was a powerful gust of wind that nearly blew Calumon away, but reacting on pure instinct, Blade of Cloud caught the In-Training Muse and smiled, looking over his shoulder as he saw that his desire had been fulfilled. No matter how much he was annoyed with having Calumon for a partner for all the silly cute things that he did and all the food that he ate, he _always_ got the job done, did it efficiently, and rarely, very rarely, disobeyed or questioned the reasons as to why things were being done a certain way. That was one thing that Blade of Cloud liked about the little digimon.

"Whoa…" said Calumon peeking over Blade's shoulder at the two figures that stood behind Blade and staring incredulously at the duo. "Did I do that?"

"You sure did Calu," said Blade with a hint of pride in his voice that made the _Calumuse_ giggle. "Now, if you would be so kind as to be quiet while I negotiate with our _guests?"_

And with that Blade of Cloud placed his Muse on top of his head so that he could amuse himself there for a while and assumed his best supreme lord of evil stance, even flinging one hand back dramatically as though tossing aside a cape and drawing up to his full height, raising his head so that he could look down upon his visitors.

Had there not been a giggling bundle of joy sitting on top of his head the affect would actually have been impressive rather than comedic, but Blade of Cloud wasn't worried about such things at this moment in time. He had everything that he needed right now…

"Arukenimon," said Blade of Cloud in a respectful tone before nodding curtly to the other figure, garbed in a blue outfit. "Mummymon," Blade added almost as an afterthought and turned back to a white haired, human looking woman wearing a red witches outfit and dark shades.

"How nice of you to arrive in such a timely manner."

The two figures that he had identified as _Arukenimon_ and _Mummymon_ simply blinked in confusion at the Author.

_Like shooting fish in a barrel,_ thought Blade of Cloud with a devious smile on his face.

* * *

"My author is _not_ going to be happy about this," said Chris in a forlorn tone as he looked at his digivice, his expression somewhat fearful as he stood there, taking it in. Next to him, Ken Ichijouji looked away from his base's computer council and raised an eyebrow, taking note of the OC's worried expression. 

_He was like this yesterday too,_ Ken thought.

"What do you mean?"

In response, Chris raised his digivice and showed it to the former Digimon Emperor. Instead of the _T_-shaped digivice with red trim that had been a regular part of his character design there was a rectangular, gold chrome plated device with silver trim around its screen, markings of digi-code etched into its surface along with the symbol of Miracles that had once emblazoned the surface of the Golden Digi-egg that still remained within the power core of the Digimon Emperor's base. Ken cocked his head to one side; not at all comprehending why it was that Chris was all up in arms about his digivices change in appearance.

"Um… I don't…"

"Look at it, Ken! It's… _different!_ Don't tell me that you didn't notice it change after that card did that whole light show from that fight we had with that Mark II Kimeramon! Aaaagh… My author is _so_ going to be pissed about this! This is the second digivice that he's going to have to replace in three weeks! He wasn't at all thrilled about Ryan's digivice destroying itself in order to bypass its digivolution lock…"

"You know," said the voice of Kaio Griffin as she entered the base's control center. "Given that on both occasions your digivices destroying or altering themselves have been more for our benefit in a tight situation your author should be more grateful than angry. Otherwise we would all be dead."

"Well," said Chris uncertainly. "It's just that I clearly remember what he said to Ryan when he heard about what happened to his digivice. As I recall…"

"Who _cares?"_ Demanded Kaio a little heatedly before blowing some hair out of her eyes in irritation. "Look. You saved the day yesterday and now you're the keeper of the Golden Digi-egg's power of Miracles. You're telling me that after everything that you went through in that fight yesterday with a half crazed, author possessed digimon you're suddenly worried about how your author's going to react to a little change in your character's spreadsheet? That doesn't sound like the hero who went and saved my partner by using a playing card and a little faith…"

Chris frowned and rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, well I have you and your little _bop_ on the back of my head to thank for that. You didn't even so much as say _thank you_ or anything. Instead all I got was physical abuse and you yelling at me for not staying imprisoned so you could rescue me…"

"I _did_ thank you! I could have hurt you even more you know! And what were you expecting? Me to shout _'my hero'_ at the top of my lungs? I had been searching for you for _days_ on end, had to fight your partner, deal with Yolie ogling everything that moved around on two legs, Mrs. Yagami's cooking…"

Chris raised one hand and massaged his temples. This _so_ was not going the way he thought it would.

"At least saying _'thanks'_ would have saved me from a serious migraine afterwards," the blonde haired boy mumbled to himself.

"Phht! Forget it! You want a grateful damsel in distress, talk to Rika or something. At least in some fics she actually _looks_ the part…"

Chris and Ken both sweatdropped at that.

"I don't think that would fly really," said Chris, grateful for the fact that his partner was off getting something to eat at the moment. Had he heard that line it most certainly would have made its way back to the red haired Tamer, and the end result would not have been good.

Kaio opened her mouth to say something in response to that before Ken interrupted them.

"Uh… if you don't mind, I'm kind of busy here, so if you two are going to continue this _discussion_ of yours could you at least do it _somewhere_ _else?_ Some of us are trying to find a way back to the Fanfic Domain."

"Oh. Right," said Kaio crossing her arms and glaring at Chris. "Remind me of how you plan to do that again?"

Ken gave a small smile as he straightened up.

"Gladly. The idea comes from what Owikawa told my friends and I in the last few episodes of the 02 season concerning the nature of the Control Spires. Chris reminded me of it back when I had captured him and Caramon…" Ken's face darkened a bit at the memory but he quickly pressed onwards. "…And I thought about how the Control Spires were used to reshape the borders of the digital world. So I wondered if I could modify their original programming so that they would allow us to transcend the borders between Internet domains, allowing us to return to the Fanfic Domain or at least get some help."

"But isn't that just a fictional device set within a fictional world? How would it help us in this setting? The real world isn't quite as easily affected by events from a story…"

"That's what they'd have you believe," said Ken distantly, as though he was lost in thought. The dark haired boy rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he looked up at the computer screen. Kaio and Chris exchanged glances.

"Care to run that by us again?" Asked Kaio as she eyed the boy genius. Ken looked at the dark haired girl and blinked, startled.

"Huh? Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking out loud. Anyway even if this idea doesn't allow us to return to the Fanfic Domain at least we should be able to travel to the other seasons, or at least the two that follow after this one. Provided that the fifth season characters weren't captured as well…"

"I guess we have no choice but to cross that bridge when we get there," said Chris.

Ken nodded.

"At the very least we have a mobile outpost that we can use and allows us to maintain the uses of the Control Spires. Leaving the Digi-Egg of Miracles in the base's core has provided us with a lot of advantages and simplifies things for us as well. We have a lot of resources that we can use here in our attempts to get back home…"

"Yeah," said Kaio. "But if the stories plot is still running doesn't that mean that Arukenimon is going to show up at some point?"

"I suppose," said Ken, and then smiled after a moment. "At least this way we won't have to worry about this base blowing up or anything."

"Or maybe not," said Kaio. "My author always used to tell me that a story would try to stay on the course of its plot in order to avoid a paradox."

"But this is a fan fic," said Chris. "Who's to say that this story will follow the show's original plot at all? I mean, just look at Yolie…"

There followed a shriek from down the hall as if the purple haired girl had somehow heard his comment. Chris winced painfully and tensed, waiting for Yolie to come barreling into the room with every intention to beat the living daylights out of him, but after about a minute of nothing happening Chris relaxed.

_Another weird story quirk,_ thought Chris irritably.

"Well Ken," said Chris. "It's been fun, but I think I'm going to take my leave for now. I've gotta make sure that Caramon is staying out of trouble and everything."

"Sure. I understand. When you get to the base's cafeteria could you see how Koushiro is doing with his calculations? I would like to know when he'll have those ready for me."

Chris nodded.

"Sure thing."

"Thanks."

As Chris left the control room he was surprised to see that Kaio Griffin was following him.

"I still can't believe that Ken has a cafeteria here," the girl muttered. "It doesn't exactly fit the _evil genius_ persona that he had as the Digimon Emperor."

"I'm sure that it has more to do with artistic viewpoint on Ken's base. It's not like we saw detailed floor plans beyond supply rooms and prisons…"

Chris gritted his teeth as he felt Kaio's hand smack him on the back of his head.

"Hey!"

"Idiot. I was talking to myself."

Chris frowned in annoyance as he rubbed the back of his head.

_I will never understand girls for as long as I live… _

* * *

As the base of Ken Ichijouji made its way across the digital landscape, brimming with Control Spires a pointy red shoe came to rest upon the ground as a tall, feminine figure in a red dress watched, sunglasses glinting in the sunlight. Chuckling to herself, the woman raised one hand to her long, silver hair and plucked out a handful of them, pausing for a moment as they stiffened in her grasp before taking aim and letting them fly to their targets. 

**"Spirit Needle!"**

Each and every silver needle struck a Control Spire dead center, and one by one they began to rise into the air above the floating base, coalescing together as a black wind began to blow in the air. Within moments a dark shape began to appear, raising massive clawed arms into the air before shrinking back onto itself.

The woman smiled.

_According to that strange human, if this works, I shall have created a digimon powerful enough to destroy the entire digital world, and there's nothing that these __**Digidestined**__ fools can do to stop me…_

A loud laugh resounded upon the air as the dark digital data began to solidify.

* * *

_Now… if I can just rewrite these data codes and get them to see __**past**__ the normal digital barriers…_

A sigh hung on the air.

_This is going to take some time. I've got to figure out a way to make these computers recognize the fiction… the __**unreality**__ that lies in the world around us. But that's difficult to do when the computer is a part of that fiction as well. What's going to happen once the computer realizes that it itself is really composed of words that are describing it? Disappear? I wish that I had some answers… or at least an author here to help me…_

Suddenly Ken took note of a foreign code infiltrating the Control Spires that he had been working with.

_What the…? What's going on? Something's activating all of the excess programs that are buried deep inside the Control Spires and… _

Ken's eyes widened.

_It looks like they're merging! But how? What kind of code could…?_

Ken paused as he connected some pieces of the puzzle together.

_Merging… left over programs…_

Quickly calling up a map onto his computer Ken did a quick headcount of the number of Control Spires that were in the area.

Within seconds Ken hit a button on his control panel and an alarm began blaring throughout the base as red lights began flashing.

_Armageddon time…_ thought Ken as he got up and ran out of the control room.

* * *

9 


	52. Chapter 52

Disclaimer: Because of copyright laws (and my own sense of morals) I must claim to not claim I own digimon, which I don't.

The Four Seasons

Fourth Arc/ Symphony of Thirteen/02

**Not Your Average Summer Repeat**: Part 13

Hikari Yagami smiled nervously at a Bakemon as it served her some food. As soon as it finished Hikari bowed and thanked the ghost digimon (who responded with a rather toothy smile and a _'thank you'_) before heading towards the cafeteria. She had to admit that she wasn't at all to certain what to make of everything that had happened to her so far, especially after that fiasco with the mark II Kimeramon. That last had disturbed her greatly. When the Kimeramon had held her captive she had _literally_ felt something reaching through her mind, brushing aside her attempts to resist the intruding entity with almost contemptuous ease, and begin rewriting her character's script and design for…well, who knows what exactly. All she knew was that what that digimon had tried to do to her had left a rather bad taste in her mouth in regards to fan fiction and authors in general. None of them, as far as she remembered, had done something like that to her, or at least to such an extent. True, she knew that there were some authors out there who were capable of such an act, but usually they were made to operate with shadow, OOC doubles. Before the Fanfic Domain had been firmly established and a set of rules created, authors pretty much had free reign to do what they wanted but the earliest ones tended to be the most respectable towards the characters and backed off when things made the character's uncomfortable. That sort of attitude didn't come easy at first of course. Finding out that your favorite characters had gained a level of reality on a fan fiction site had certainly come as a shock to everyone, especially when the characters awoke to that knowledge while in a _compromising _position. Hikari remembered what had happened the first time that she had _awoken_ in fan fiction. It certainly hadn't been the most pleasant of experiences and the author had been utterly surprised when it had happened. After those early days, dealing with newly arrived fictional characters in the Fanfic Domain had become common practice, and in fact was now a law of the web…especially after Ruki had arrived.

No one wanted to have a repeat of the Digimon Queen's _awakening._ That day was marked (more like _branded_) in everyone's mind quite well, and it was called, with a touch of dry humor and horror, _the_ _Day of Wrath_.

There were of course other names, but that one pretty much sums it up quite nicely.

Memories from her conversations with her dub twin, Kari Kamiya, about her experiences during the Fable War came to mind, and the brunette shuddered. Though she knew better than her translated self the experiences of being manipulated in this manner (having been created first, and well before the laws of the Fanfic Domain had been established), nothing had prepared her for this kind of attack. Kari had claimed that she had heard her older brother Tai describe it as something akin to rape. Looking back on it Hikari could see his point. It wasn't at all good to feel, and something in her, some vital part of her, was shaken, perhaps even broken because of the act. Would she be able to face another author when she and her friends returned to the Fanfic Domain? Could she even participate in another story? How did the others feel as a result of this?

Hikari's eyes scanned the length of the cafeteria, and finally fell upon Davis Motomiya, the dub equivalent to Daisuke Motomiya, calmly eating what looked like Ramen from a Styrofoam cup with his partner Veemon.

_Davis…_ thought Hikari as her expression softened. She had to admit, she felt kind of bad for Davis right now. He certainly had been in something of a bad way ever since the Fable War ended, but he seemed to have been coping better then some of the other characters such as Tai and Sora, but to have to go through the same thing for a second time had to have been a little too much for him to take right now. For as far as the 02 series had run Davis had had a crush on her dub counterpart (one that Kari didn't seem to reciprocate, but instead used to her advantage to have a little fun at poor Davis's expense), and to have that crush granted with the loss of free will and canon memories, only to lose it by being _reawakened_. From the way Kari had described things between them, things had become rather awkward. Not that their friendship had been changed or anything, but it was just a matter of having to adjust to what had gone on between them before they could even begin to move on and accept things for what they were. Of course, given the type of fics that they all had worked in at one time or another one would think that they would be able to recover rather rapidly, but for some reason they hadn't.

_Relationships and emotions are much more complex outside of the story,_ thought Hikari as she began to approach Davis and Veemon's table, setting down her tray and pulling back a chair and promptly sitting down in it.

Davis looked over at the brown haired girl, blinking in surprise as he slurped up a noodle, and then gave a crazy, slightly nervous grin.

"Hey Hikari. What's going on?"

Hikari shrugged as she looked down at her tray.

"Nothing much. I was… hoping that we could talk."

"About what?" Asked Davis in between mouthfuls of ramen. Hikari sighed as she collected herself.

"About…what happened between us Davis. I mean we've done stories before but this…"

"Hikari," interrupted Davis as he swallowed. "I don't know why this is such a big deal. We go through this all the time when we're in a story. I still remember you telling me what happened to you when you first _awoke_ here when you and Taichi were giving us dubs our orientation, and who can forget what happened to Ruki when _she_ first _awoke_. I swear… I didn't think my ears would ever stop bleeding from her screams of anger. I hear that her echoes are hanging in space somewhere over Northern Indiana…"

"That's _besides_ the point though _Davis_!" Exclaimed Hikari, feeling just a little bit frustrated with the goggle-wearing boy in front of her, causing him to look at her, stunned by the girl's outburst. Hikari took a moment to compose herself. "What I'm trying to say, Davis is… after what has happened to us…well, I want to make sure that everything is fine between us. That _you're _fine. I mean this _is_ the second time that this has happened to you, and only in a period of three weeks too…"

"Yeah, I can get that Hikari, but why bother worrying about it? For one thing constantly thinking about that sort of thing is only going to hurt the friendship that we have with everyone, and it's not going to help us get out of here any faster…"

Hikari regarded Davis with a scrutinizing gaze, letting everything that he said sink in.

"…Plus it kinda makes my head hurt…"

Okay, everything except _that._ Hikari sweatdropped as she looked at Davis bemusedly.

"You know Davis, even though you're thinking has always been portrayed as being rather simpleminded at times in the show, you did show signs of a depth of thought that sometimes none of the others, like Ken or Izzy, even had. I know you, and I don't think that you would so casually dismiss what's happened to you. Can you look me in the eye and honestly tell me that this _doesn't _affect you in some way?"

"_Of course_ it affects me!" Exclaimed Davis a little fiercely before blushing lightly at his outburst. Yolie, Cody, and Takeru were just entering the cafeteria at it, and all three of them, partner's included (Gatomon included, having been in an argument with the Bakemon for a dash of Catnip in her meal). "It's just…"

Whatever it was that Davis was going to say next he didn't get a chance to finish as all around the Digidestined alarms blared loudly, causing them all to look around them in surprise, half expecting, by reflex, to be surrounded by a swarm of Bakemon. Above them, a loudspeaker came to life and Ken Ichijouji's voice soon joined the throng of noise.

_"Guys! The base's sensors have picked up a massive group of control spires merging together!"_

Takeru looked around the room quickly and then ran up to an intercom installed into the cafeteria's wall and hit the button.

"Ken! What's going on!? Control Spires merging…?" Takeru paused for a moment as he quickly thought things through. "Does that mean that Arukenimon's out there? Is she trying to create BlackWarGreymon!?"

_"It looks like that's what's happening,"_ responded Ken from over the intercom. _"The sensors have counted a hundred Control Spires being within our vicinity before a virus infiltrated their security and activated their leftover programs. Their data is starting to merge now! We'll be looking at complete data cohesion and formation in three minutes!"_

Everyone's eyes widened at that as memories from their time in the television show, and an uncountable score of fan fics played through their minds. A second later they were all rushing towards the exit, trays of food crashing to the ground as their feet hit the ground.

* * *

Ken went back to his command center to check up on the progress of the data before leaving to join the others. He frowned as he went over the incoming information, cursing the author that had put them in this highly precarious position, as well as limiting their ability to affectively combat their enemies. Even though Chris's and Kaio's digivices had been able to restore all of their memories, for some reason they didn't have the same affect on their ability to digivolve, so for now they were pretty much stuck at Armor and whoever could already digivolve to Champion and Ultimate. 

_Say three… four Armor's and maybe two Champions…provided that Wormmon __**can**__ digivolve to Stingmon…plus the two OC's Kaio and Chris who's partner's can already evolve much higher than us up against what is most likely going to be BlackWarGreymon, an incredibly powerful Virus type, Mega level digimon. I do __**not**__ count that as good odds. Of course, Chris has a digivice that seems capable of emitting power from the digi-egg of Miracles so it's quite possible that we can all Golden Armor digivolve…that will certainly give us quite an advantage. Problem with that is Chris isn't sure how he was able to pull it off. He had to tap into a very deep well of faith in order to activate that card's power and he doesn't even know if he can do it again._

Ken looked over his instruments one more time.

_He'll have to find out quickly. That data anomaly is formatting at a very rapid pace. He either has to get it right the first time or we're all going to be…hold on! What's this?_

Ken's brow furrowed in confusion as he read the incoming information.

_Another data anomaly? It looks like it's… a portal? _

* * *

"I have to say," said Metal Dracaramon as the Digidestined plus two OC's gathered at the roof of the Digimon Emperor's mobile base. Ahead of them the whirlwind of data was starting to collapse onto itself and take an all too familiar shape. "It looks like we're pretty much boned here." 

"Well, tidings of comfort and joy to you too, buddy," muttered Chris sarcastically as he rapped his partner on the top of his armor encased skull and immediately regretted it. Wincing Chris shook his hand and glared at his partner. Metal Dracaramon chuckled.

"Can't you just use that digivice of yours to Golden Armor digivolve us?" Asked Davis as next to him, the dark haired OC, Kaio Griffen glared at him before flicking his ear in irritation.

"I was going to say that," the girl grumbled, while on her shoulder, Arbomon sweatdropped.

"I've been trying," said Chris as he poked at the buttons on his gold plated digivice. "But I haven't been able to figure out how to make this thing work beyond the usual digivolution methods. Sure wish that this thing came with an owner's manual. It's kinda confusing."

Chris frowned as he pressed a button.

" _'Press any key to continue…'_ Oookay… Which one's the _any key_?"

"You never were any good with computers," growled Metal Dracaramon.

Behind him Takeru sighed.

"All right. It looks like we're just going to have to do without Golden Armor digivolving and just focus on how to handle this. Kaio, do you think that you're up for biomerging?"

"Dunno," said Kaio with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "But if you give me a second I'm sure that I can fake it."

"Oh boy…"

"Knock it off, Arbomon. You know that I was kidding. Anway, let's do this! We're the one-line defense against whatever big nasty is going to be heading our way so…"

"Can we have less talk and more _oomph_ here? Actually, on second thought, less _oomph_. I don't want to end up in traction again…"

"You know, I hate to interrupt you two in your _moment_," said Yolie trying to summon up as much patience as she could. "But we _do _have a situation on our hands here."

Kaio and Arbomon both looked at each other, and then said at exactly the same time:

_"That's just what I was saying."_

There were blank stares from all around. If the situation weren't so dire Kaio and Arbomon's conversation would actually have been rather comical.

"This is hardly befitting a story fit for the Digidestined," muttered Chris as he turned to look back at the scene in front of them, the familiar form of BlackWarGreymon finally taking shape.

"Eh. What the heck," said Metal Dracaramon as he shrugged his shoulders. "It's just a fan fic."

"True…"

* * *

A second later the familiar, purple scaled, dragonic form of the Mega known as Krodromon lifted off from the top of the Digimon Emperor's base, letting loose a triumphant roar as both Kaio and Arbomon relished in the feel of being made one through the power of biomerging. Ahead of them, the cold, unfeeling eyes of BlackWarGreymon, decked out in the dark armor and claws that had given him his namesake, watched them passively for a moment. 

But only for a moment.

BlackWarGreymon suddenly leapt forth, his great speed taking him towards the Mega level dragon at a rate so swift that all but the sharpest of eyes could follow him. Krodromon unfortunately wasn't one who's eyes _were_ sharp enough to track the viral Mega, but having seen the episode where BlackWarGreymon appeared she was more than ready to counter this familiar move. Her wings beating upon the air, Krodromon halted in her flight path and drastically altered course, surging upwards towards the sky in an attempt to dodge the incoming enemy…

She almost made it.

In her data sphere, Kaio gave a yelp of surprise as she felt the steely gauntlets of BlackWarGreymon grab hold of her tail and start pulling, attempting to swing her around so as to hurl her to the ground. Not to be perturbed however, Krodromon pulled upwards with her tail, the movement of the dragon's strong tail muscles surprising the dragon warrior as she pulled him up. Blue flames licked at the edges of her mouth just before she unleashed a torrent of azure fireballs on her assailant.

**"Cosmic Flame!"**

Reacting purely on what could be called fighter's instinct, BlackWarGreymon released Krodromon and reached over his shoulders, throwing up his jet colored split shield, successfully blocking each of the fireballs as they came at him. Giving an enraged roar at the effectiveness of the defense, Krodromon's claws began to glow with blue flames as she dove towards him. Oddly enough, BlackWarGreymon threw open his split shield, practically _inviting _Krodromon to take the fight to him…

_It's a trap!_ Kaio screamed in her mind, the sudden realization coming just a second too late. She was already too close…!

_WHAM!_

BlackWarGreymon slammed the segmented pieces of his shield together, smashing them on Krodromon's skull, causing the mighty dragon to cry in pain before swiftly being silenced by a kick to the chin.

_This __**really**__ has not been my kind of adventure…_ Bemoaned Kaio as she felt her wings suddenly grow limp, the force of the blows stunning her bodies instinctive reaction to resist the pull of gravity. Cracking open one reptilian eye Kaio looked down towards the ground. First it was there… and a second later it really was _there!_

_CRASH!_

_Digi-Dragon's going to be upset if I go home with a bruise,_ thought Kaio deliriously as she coughed and sputtered, trying to draw oxygen into her lungs. Above her BlackWarGreymon, having replaced his split shield behind his back once more, was now drawing together crimson energy and focusing it between his clawed gauntlets.

**"Terra Destroyer!"**

* * *

**"Arsenal Barrage!"**

**"Rosetta Stone!"**

**"Shooting Star!"**

**"Gold Rush!"**

**"Eagle Eye!"**

**"Thunder Blast!"**

As one the digimon attacked, throwing everything they had in an attempt to stop BlackWarGreymon from throwing the full fury of his power on a currently disabled Krodromon. Pegasusmon and Nephirtimon were already going for their _Golden Noose_ combination, while at the same time Metal Dracaramon had launched himself into the air after his own missiles. It didn't look like they were going to make it in time. They were too far from the battle! Too little, too late…

And that was when the air in front of the dark Mega began to warp, causing BlackWarGreymon to pause in making his attack to see what the cause of the sudden and unexpected phenomena was.

That pause was all it took for all the launched attacks to cross the remaining distance and strike their target dead on, sending the Mega careening towards the ground, only to catch himself a second before impact. No one took any notice however, as all their attention was now focused on the center of the warp. As everyone watched, Digidestined, digimon, BlackWarGreymon, a far off Arukenimon and Mummymon, as well as a certain author and his creampuff of a muse, the warp began to glow and then suddenly burst into a blinding light that forced everyone to look away and cover their eyes. When the light died down, and the gathered characters were once again able to see what was going on, eyes went wide in surprise. Before them stood what looked like Arc vessel from the third season that was responsible for bringing the Tamers back to the real world from the digital world. And in front of it stood…

* * *

_"BLACKWARGREYMON!?!?"_ Exclaimed the Digidestined incredulously, unable to hide their surprise at finding another version of the dark Mega. And by _another version, _they were referring to the alterations in color on his armor. The armor that was on this BlackWarGreymon was similar to that of his regular form, and much of it remained dark in color. The only real difference was the change in coloring on the viruses shoulder guards, faceplate, shin guards, and chest plates, with the chest pate taking on a golden luster while the rest changed to white. The rest of his body though remained black. 

"ChaosBlackWarGreymon. Virus type. Megal level. Special attacks are _Giga Blaster_ and _Terra Force,_" said Chris as he read the stats off of his digivice before looking back over at the scene. "Whoa…this…If he's here to fight then…Metal Dracaramon's right. We're screwed. Holy crap…"

"Don't be such a pessimist…" said Yolie, thought the shake in her voice told everyone that she was just barely hanging onto reality at this moment. And who could blame her? _One _BlackWarGreymon had been bad enough, but if they had to face off against another, supped up version?

* * *

ChaosBlackWarGreymon looked carefully around, his cool gaze missing nothing. He noticed the Digidestined standing atop of the floating base that he immediately recognized as belonging to the Digimon Emperor, but his eyes didn't stay on them for long. He sensed _danger_ was afoot right now, and he had to remove it as quickly as possible. He tried to get an estimation of what episode they were on. Was this where Kimeramon had come in? Or… 

ChaosBlackWarGreymon made a contemptuous laugh as he saw his dark twin surging towards him.

_So __**this**__ is the source of the danger. How appropriate…_

ChaosBlackWarGreymon raised a clawed gauntlet and blocked an incoming slash before summoning all the strength of the D-Leter code that was in him and stabbed outwards. The next sound that could be heard was that of tortured metal shrieking. Black colored fluid flew through the air along with shards of data and armor. BlackWarGreymon grunted in pain and surprise as he looked up at his clone, eyes wide, trying to comprehend how this had happened. ChaosBlackWarGreymon simply grunted and looked BlackWarGreymon in the eye.

"There is no need for two BlackWarGreymons in this world," the dark Mega said calmly. "Either you go… or _I _go!"

And with that, ChaosBlackWarGreymon jerked back his clawed gauntlet from the wound that he had inflicted, his counterpart grunting in pain as he did so before falling towards the ground. BlackWarGreymon's body disintegrated into so much data shards before it even landed.

Up on the roof of the Digimon Emperor's base, the Digidestined stood aghast, watching, waiting to see what would happen next. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity the Arc opened up and out stepped an author that they all knew well. Digital-Dragon-Master.

Digi-Dragon glanced up at ChaosBlackWarGreymon, nodding as she saw the shards of data before taking a look around. Finally her gaze settled on the battered form of Krodromon as she was starting to sit up, recovering from her battle with BlackWarGreymon.

"Honestly," began Digi-Dragon, placing her hands on her hips and shaking her head. "I can't let you two go _anywhere_ can I?"

Within her data sphere, Kaio groaned, a groan that was matched by her partner Arbomon as well.

* * *

Blade of Cloud stood stock still as he watched all this. A group of authors had just arrived in the realm of the trinity, though how they were able to do that he did not know, and now they were talking to the characters, loading them onto what looked like the Arc from the third season. His mouth worked, opening and closing as he tried to find an appropriate way of expressing what he was feeling. 

A second later he had it.

_"F-BLEEP!"_

* * *

A/N: And thus ends the 02 arc of the story. The next chapter will feature a brief interaction between the recently rescued characters and the authors, and then we'll proceed directly to the Tamer's Arc! Please forgive the delay but as you know I was pretty busy with other stories. Hopefully now I'll update this fic much more regularly. Anway, 'till next time. Later.

-Crazyeight

* * *

9 


	53. Chapter 53

Disclaimer: ""

The Four Seasons

Fourth Arc/Symphony of Thirteen

**Calm Before the Next Season…Sort of…**

"…And that should be it," said Arc22 as he checked off the names of each character as they took their seats in the Arc and compared it with the passenger manifest. "We have all the characters from the first and second seasons of the show; family, friends, partners, enemies (both deleted or not)… everyone. All we have to do now is look for the piece of D-Leter that showed up here and then we'll be set to move on to the third season."

Goldcat glanced away from the author, Digital-Dragon-Master as she proceeded to lick her thumb and clean the OC Kaio Griffen's face (a treatment that the character vehemently protested against).

"Where do you think that the D-Leter code could be?" Asked Goldcat to Arc22, formerly known as the Lord of Fantasy. "And how do we find it?"

"Difficult to ascertain," said Arc22 as he walked up to a staircase and began to ascend them, heading up towards the Arc's main bridge. "We'll have to do a complete and total scan of this season. Usually the D-Leter data would manifest as something that's _out of place_, something that would _replace_ an integral part of the story, much like what happened with Biyomon when she digivolved to Saberdramon. However there was so much about this season that had gone off course that there's no telling where it could have wound up. The OOCness of Yolie especially disturbs me…"

"No kidding," said Goldcat, trying to hold back a dry chuckle. "I have to admit I was more than a little bit surprised to hear about that. I'm curious, is there any chance that the OC's digivices could have erased the D-Leter data when the Canon Characters were exposed to them?"

"That's assuming of course that the data was even in them in the first place, and as I recall we still found the algorithm in Biyomon who _had_ been exposed to an OC digivice, so that negates that theory. Of course we haven't fully analyzed all of the characters so far so it's possible that it is in one of them, albeit probably a little more buried."

Goldcat looked over her shoulder as they entered the Arc's control room.

"Do you think that it could be the subbed version's Gatomon?"

Arc22 raised an eyebrow.

"Can you conjure up a reason as to _why_ that would be the case?" He asked, his tone sounding rather insulting. Goldcat glared at the author and crossed her arms.

"I was just thinking…Isn't Gatomon's original, Japanese name supposed to be Tailmon?"

Arc22 blinked, for the first time baffled.

"Is it?"

Goldcat rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe that you were voted as the most knowledgeable digimon author on this site after a certain digimon encyclopedia was taken down three years ago. And you call yourself a fan of digimon…"

"Hey! Don't patronize me! I had _complete_ evolution charts, not to mention I wrote _Treaties on a Digidestined_, which covered the entire canonical history of the digimon show from season one and two, and included philosophical discussions on the characters, crests, pairings, the nature of the Dark Ocean, and theories on unresolved Plot holes that _still_ plague that show in much the same way as the problem with our Ozone! Not to mention that it's the only story that I wrote that wasn't deleted when my account was taken down…"

Goldcat just looked at Arc22 impassively.

"And yet, you didn't even know that Tailmon was Gatomon's Japanese name."

Arc22 scowled.

"I don't pay attention to the Japanese stuff. I'm an American. What do you expect? Besides, I much rather prefer the translated stuff."

"Philistine."

Arc22 winced but said nothing. Given his most recent history, the term did describe him quite well. Turning to a nearby control panel, Arc22 began typing busily away, proceeding to conduct a complete system's diagnostic before running an interior Character check just to be sure that his once former _partner_ in fanfiction writing was right in her theory. It sounded a little off base to him though. After all, some authors did prefer using certain terms and names even when they were writing with one translation or the other. One author, as he recalled, used Davis's and Daisuke's names interchangeably even in mid-chapter, though why he did that was beyond anyone.

_I remember what The House of the Archangel had to say about that,_ thought Arc22 ruefully as he continued to feed information into the computer. A tense silence seemed to fall between the author and authoress as they stood there, waiting as the computer processed the data that Arc22 fed into it. After a few moments, Goldcat began to speak.

"Mark…" she began, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Digital-Dragon-Master.

"All right. What've you got? Are we ready to leave yet?"

Arc22 shook his head.

"Not yet. Goldcat here has some wild theory that the subbed Gatomon might be carrying some of D-Leter's data due to a name change. Apparently Gatomon's real name is _Tailmon_. Can you believe that?"

Digi-Dragon rolled her eyes, eerily imitating Goldcat's motion.

"And you call yourself a fan of digimon?" She derided the once former author giving the boy a strange feeling of déjà vu. "Weren't _you_ the one who…"

"Don't even bother Digi-Dragon," snickered Goldcat. "I already got after him about that. Besides, we're wasting time talking about it…"

_Plus I don't think that we want the characters to know that they've been rescued by someone who tried to take control of them three weeks ago,_ thought the authoress as she glanced down at the stairwell.

"Sure," grumbled Digi-Dragon. "Take all the fun out of it. Anyway, what progress have you made so far?"

"Just started scanning the characters," Arc22 said as he stepped back and activated a computer screen that showed a series of lines that arched up and down like a heart monitor. "These lines here represent each and every individual character that we have here so far. I've started off with Gatomon…or rather _Tailmon_," Arc22 glared at the two girls before going back to his lectrure. "Due to her name change. Rather surprised that none of the other characters have picked up on themselves, but whatever. Now the areas of the line that goes straight are the basic elements of the characters personalities as they first appeared in the show, while the areas that have alternate directions represent changes that were made as the show developed them, good and bad changes depending on the accentuation of the line."

Arc22 pointed at a minor, downward spike in an orange line. "This line here for example, represents the Kamiya/Yagami character's experience with digivolving Greymon to SkullGreymon. But that's a _part_ of their canon personality. What we're looking for is something else. An alteration in the original canon code since the character _Awakened_ and was incorporated into a story. I've set the current character data against the original information that was gathered at the end of the seasons. Depending on the skill of the author it's either going to be highly noticeable or extremely subtle, though I think a name change is going to be pretty easy to pick up on."

Suddenly one of the lines on the screen inexplicably dipped downward before snapping back to their original position, for some reason making all three authors think that the line had just _hiccupped._

"What... was that?" Demanded Digi-Dragon, obviously not at all happy with what she just saw. Arc22 hit a command on the council and frowned for a moment.

"It was just character distortion. Don't worry. It's pretty common with characters when they've just been involved in a story. They should adjust soon enough as they return to normal…aha! Here we go…"

Arc22 busily typed at the council for a few seconds before standing back and studying the incoming information.

"Well?" Asked Digi-Dragon as she folded her arms. "Aren't you going to tell us what's going on?"

"It looks like Goldcat was on the money," said Arc22 finally. "Tailmon's name change was a direct result of a collision with D-Leter's data during the uploading process."

"And if we remove it?" Asked Goldcat.

Arc22 shrugged.

"I imagine that she should be fine, seeing as how it's just a small amount of data. Nothing major. She'll probably have amnesia for a while unless her character falls back to her default personality until we get back to the Fanfic Domain…" Arc22 scowled as he thought about that. "We may have to use a character infusion from the dubbed Gatomon until then. As I recall, Tailmon's default personality was as a servant of Myotismon. That wouldn't be cool…"

"Do it," said Digi-Dragon as she turned and began to march back downstairs. "Goldcat, follow me. We're going to have a talk with _Gatomon._ The last thing I want is a character going nuts just because they're so IC that they forgot about their true reality. After that, get ready to move this tub out of here. I want to get us to the Tamer's season as quickly as possible."

"Got it," said Arc22 looking over at his computer screen. Goldcat looked at her companion for a moment before following Digi-Dragon downstairs, leaving the former author alone on the bridge. For a few seconds silence reigned as Arc22 thought things over.

"Considering the kind of things that go on in the third season, I don't blame her for wanting to move quickly."

A pause.

"Especially if what my analysis of the currently running scripts means anything…"

Arc22 once more began typing on the council, feeling greatly troubled.

* * *

4 


	54. Chapter 54

Disclaimer: To claim or disclaim. That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of lawsuits… Wait. What?

The Four Seasons

Fourth Arc/ Symphony of Thirteen

**Much Ado About Fiction**: Part 1

_Wanna be the biggest dreamer _

_Running full speed through _

_Both the future and the present…_

Takato Matsuki looked up at the sound of the song, not sure where it had precisely come from. He didn't know why but there was something about it that struck a cord in him, though perhaps it had more to do with the word that it contained for that was what life had seemed to become these past few weeks; one big dream. From the moment that he had received his digivice events shifted into high gear and almost seem to spin out of control in some spots. He had not only created a digimon, Guilmon to be more specific, but also encountered other children who were like him…_Tamers_, one of whom he had seen in a dream. Again, that word called to him but in the orange glow of the setting sun he shrugged the feeling off. Sure, things had taken on a sense of _unreality_ but so far he had adapted to his new situation pretty well. For the most part…

As Takato looked over his cards, thinking about what kind of combos that he could use on Guilmon the next time that a digimon bio-emerged into the real world looking for trouble he thought over some of the strange little oddities that had been occurring of late. Not that finding out that digimon, something that had always been a game to him until Guilmon came along, wasn't a little strange but _this_ was something that he couldn't quite figure out. It just seemed to go beyond all sense of reason!

_The TV show,_ thought Takato as he sorted through his cards, picking out a couple Option and Modify cards and comparing them to his memory of Guilmon's stats that he had drawn up so long ago. Yes, the TV show; _that_ was rather important he felt. It had _changed_. Everything about it had changed, and had done so unexpectedly. He couldn't understand how it was possible. Biyomon had digivolved to the dark feathered _Saberdramon_ instead of her usual Birdramon _far_ earlier than was usual, and not only that Devimon had begun infecting digimon with his Black Gears far earlier as well; resulting in the complete and utter destruction of the Yokomon village. An event that had led to Biyomon's _dark digivolution_, and on top of that there were characters appearing that he had never even _heard_ of before! Jane and some guy name Reno. It was this last who had used a _unique_ version of digivolving…combining with his partner to achieve the Mega Level and…and that was when the show had resumed its original course.

Takato didn't understand that either. He didn't understand just what had happened to the show. He had tried talking to Henry and Rika about it, but they didn't pay much attention to him, mostly because they claimed to see the show as it had always been, even when he showed them a taped version of one of the altered episodes. Kazu and Kenta didn't much believe him either but that was to be expected. Oddly enough though, out of all of them, Rika was the only one who had really done any listening when he had first brought the matter forward, but that had fizzled out when he showed her the taped episode and she only saw what was _supposed_ to be there.

It was all so confusing and disturbing to him, and he wasn't the only one who thought so. Henry had noticed that Rika had shown a remarkable ability to predict bio-emergences before their digivices even picked them up, as well as knowing precisely what was amiss when a problem came up, like what had happened when Takato had thought Guilmon was scaring couples in the park.

_She had known right from the start that it was Impmon,_ thought Takato, frowning mentally as he thought things over. _She didn't even explain __**how**__ she knew, just that she did and then told Terriermon __**exactly**__ where he had to go to find out for himself if that was the truth._

Takato wondered if it had anything to do with that weird, green trimmed digivice that she kept attached on her belt next to her own blue trimmed digivice. He had asked once about it but all she did was glare at him and told him to mind his own business.

_At least she had said it nicely,_ thought Takato, once more wondering about the change in personality that she had quite rapidly gone through since that fight in the parking garage. And then there were those other two Tamers that he had met…those _strange ones_, one of whom had been involved in that bizarre fight in the parking garage. He hadn't seen either of them since then, which he felt was rather odd, but then again they _did_ look like foreigners so maybe they weren't supposed to stay around for long.

_Maybe they're linked to some weird government agency like that guy with the suit and shades! I doubt that they're connected seeing as how that government guy was more about capturing digimon. He definitely seemed to have a grudge against them that's for sure. Wonder what digimon ever did to him to make him act that way._

Takato glanced over at his crimson partner and smiled, his mind getting back on track to his original thought process.

_Hmmm…I wonder if Guilmon and me should have a team name, like __**Awesome Twosome **__or __**Dynamite Duo**__…_

Suddenly the sound of a deep rumbling reached the boy's ears, and he looked outside of the entrance to Guilmon's home, a question already forming on his lips.

"An earthquake?"

In Guilmon's mind, a thought echoed.

_It's coming…_

Takato got up from his spot on the ground and walked outside of the entrance to Guilmon's hut, the crimson dinosaur following him in short order. As the boy looked around outside, the sky, which had already been blazing a brilliant golden color suddenly took on an _enflamed_ appearance to it as waves of energy emanating from the depths of the city surged from…_where exactly?_ Wondered Takato. He couldn't really see past all the trees.

"Whoa," said Takato in awe at what he was witnessing. "The sky…"

"Takato," said Guilmon, a sound of tension in his voice. "Something's coming. A digimon. And it's really _big…"_

Takato felt a cold fear begin to settle in the pit of his stomach.

* * *

Rika raced through the streets, forcing her way through the crowd as she demanded that they make room for her as above her the familiar form of Renamon phased in and out of view until in perfect synchronicity the two of them came to a halt; Rika at the edge of the crowd and Renamon atop of a building as they both looked at the source of the commotion. A warp was building in the sky, and it gave the red headed girl a sense of déjà vu as she looked at it, her violet eyes narrowing as she did so. Unconsciously she felt the weight of the two digivices that hung on her belt, the weight of _one _in particular as it sat next to hers, the feeling already a familiar one as she had carried it with her these past few weeks; ever since that fight in the parking garage.

Ever since she had gotten the digivice after that boy had disappeared (apparently _taken_ by the Tamer who could throw energy blasts at digimon) she had experienced feelings of _familiarity_ with the people that surrounded her and the events that occurred to her and the other Tamers. For some reason she had a sense that she _had_ known them before, and trusted them to a certain extent though how that could be she didn't know. She certainly had no recollection of having ever met them prior to becoming a Tamer (especially that one kid who's partner claimed she _liked_ prior to their disappearance). That feeling had only increased after her battles with the wild digimon known as Dokugumon and IceDevimon. In fact, now that she thought about it, it had almost seemed that she had been expecting them to happen.

And the feeling that something was missing in her life, combined with half remembered images that she had seen in her mind when she had first touched the strange T-shaped digivice that now resided on her belt next to her own, had been grounded and given a firm foundation to build further on. And even though her partner never said anything, Rika could tell that the same feeling and thoughts ran through her mind just as sure and as readily as it did her own.

Just like now as she looked at the building that had a digital portal growing above it, sucking helpless digimon into it like some kind of vacuum cleaner.

_Any second now the Deva Mihiramon is going to come through,_ thought Rika. A second later she frowned in confusion at her thought.

_What's a Deva?_

Feeling that she was going to find out real soon Rika dashed towards the Hypnos building as above her Renamon phased out of view and resumed following her.

* * *

_Right on schedule,_ thought the dark shape as it waited beneath the portal as it grew and sparked in the air above him. Within the depths of his black cowl the figure smiled coldly as he sensed the familiar data of the Ultimate level Deva known only as Mihiramon to the digital world began to approach the borders that separated these two realities. The power of the Juggernaut program was surging throughout the story, expanding outwards and he knew that a certain character that had dared to try to accelerate the story had just been engulfed within the tidal wave of its strength. Soon…so very soon…once Mihiramon arrived he would destroy the self-inserted character and that OC that had arrived here with him and had fought with the data of Milleniummon.

And he would make them _pay_ for their interference in the story.

_Neo III was right about one thing,_ the dark shape thought to himself. _Even though he had terrible priorities, a pairing is something that should __**not**__ be messed with. I don't know how that one OC was able to do what he did, but this is as far as that character development goes. A line must be drawn here!_

As Mihiramon drew closer, beginning to take shape in the world of fiction the dark figure smiled gleefully.

He always wanted to use that line.

* * *

John struggled to maintain his connection to the core of the fan fiction site so that he could accelerate it to the point that he wanted, but a wave of power emanating from the Tamer's realm continued to hammer away at him, forcing him to gradually lose his grip bit by bit. Gritting his teeth, the Avatar character forced himself to keep hold, deepening his focus into mainframe and grabbing at whatever bits of code that he could lay a hold of in a desperate bid to follow through on his plan.

_I can't lose hold of it now! I've sacrificed __**far**__ too much energy to lose it all here! If I can't hold on I won't have enough strength to get back in! For Renamon! For the Tamers! For __**all**__ of the characters that have been trapped here! I __**cannot LOSE IT!!!**_

For a brief moment, John's grip over the mainframe tightened. A wave of an incoming surge of data and power buffeted him again. A line of code slammed into him…

John screamed in pain and he felt his connection to the site's core shatter.

* * *

Mihiramon looked curiously at the strange, demonic figure that stood before him. It looked no larger than an average sized human, but he could sense that there was something _different_ about it that set it apart from the fragile creatures that he had been sent to conquer in the name of his master. Regardless of whatever this being was, it too would fall before him, before the might of the Devas and the Digimon Sovereign. _No one_ beats Mihiramon! _No one!_

"I don't have to," the dark figure spoke up, as if reading the digimon's mind. With a swiftness that defied the imagination, the dark creature surged forward and melted into a shadowy like substance, aiming itself straight at the proud Deva. Faster than Mihiramon could move, the shadowy veil slammed into the Deva, spreading all over his body. Mihiramon screamed in rage and horror as he felt something tear through his defenses and force its way into his mind with contemptuous ease. No sooner after a few seconds of contact Mihiramon's body took on the colors of black and gray and replacing the yellow fur, silver armor, and a red scarf that had been his most identifying feature.

In the fog of the digital field, _Mihiramon _grinned as he stretched out his senses, straining them to find some trace of his quarry.

_This story has no room for you OC's,_ thought the author possessed Mihiramon. _One of us is going to have to go…_

Soon the story would be as it was. The thought made _Mihiramon_ grin and smack his lips.

* * *

5 


	55. Chapter 55

Disclaimer: Don't claim it.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 54

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen

**Much Ado About Fiction**: Part 2

Darkness surrounded his vision as exhaustion settled on him like a thick, heavy blanket, weighing the boy down as he lay on the cold, hard ground beneath him. Despite the discomfort that the position entailed he was perfectly happy to stay where he was, not moving a single muscle. If only because by doing so would entail unnecessary amounts of effort on his part…and pain as well. He had aches and pains making themselves known all over his body like he had been hit by a combination of a Locomon and a cruise missile. Neither were very good for a person's body and had the rather nasty affect of leaving one spewed all over the place much in the same way as projectile vomit, but that's besides the point right now. In either case, the boy felt so _very_ tired right now. Bone deep in fact, and with the pain accompanying that sense of exhaustion…yes. One could easily say that he was more than content to remain where he was.

_"Get up…"_

The boy snorted once, feeling his mind drift towards consciousness briefly before settling back down again, rewrapping itself in its layers of sleep. To sleep…perchance to dream…

_"Ahem. Seriously. __**Get… up!**__ We have a situation going on here."_

The darkness receded a bit, forming light colored grays with a few shadows in between. The boy didn't as yet open his eyes however. He was still too tired for that.

So far.

_Hmmm? Daisuke? That you? Or is it V-mon…? If it is I don't want to hear you start on me about your name. I still don't know how to pronounce a hyphen…_

Swirls of images began to form in the boy's brain, destroying the last remnants of the darkness that clouded his mind. Words began to take shape and organize themselves, though the meaning of this was lost on him. He was still a little too far gone to immediately recognize it for what it was. Still, it _did_ tickle the back of his brain for some reason…

_"Nope. Daisuke's with your other friend, mostly because he was pulled there by his nature. Otherwise he'd be here with you trying to wake you up. I'm still sure that I can do a better job though. Feel free to guess again."_

"Mmmmgh…" moaned the boy rolling over, wondering why he thought that there should be a piece of concrete on the ground that he should feel digging into his spine even though there wasn't any there. "Richoemon…lemme alone for another five minutes…"

_Since when does Richoemon talk in my brain?_ Wondered the boy as he felt himself drifting again. The words in his brain accelerated in their formation, as though irritated with his response…or lack thereof to whatever situation was about to erupt.

_"I'm not Richoemon either, Ryan. Get with the program here. Listen kid. You've __**gotta**__ get up. The Tamers are about to go toe to toe with a powerful enemy…"_

_So? I'm not necessary. I'm not even supposed to exist in their world…_

_"Wish it were that simple kid. But it's not. Things have changed whether you like it or not, and you've become a part of it. Don't know how but that's how the dice rolled this time around. Rika needs you…"_

_She can take care of herself…she always has…and __**why**__ are you telling me that as if it should make a difference to me?_

The boy, who had been identified as Ryan, became aware of just how odd it felt hearing a voice that wasn't his own sigh in his mind. And then there was the fact that there seemed to be a sudden shift in a rather odd presence that he was just beginning to feel in his mind. In fact, it almost felt like it was _smiling._ Evilly…

_"By the time I'm done with you, you'll feel differently. Trust me. Now, do you want me to do this the easy way? Or the hard way?"_

_…_

_"Okay. You asked for it…"_

Suddenly the image of a familiar red haired girl flared to life in the boy's mind. For a brief moment he just looked at her, confused. There was good reason for this confusion; after all she had her hair down…a rare sight in its own right. And there was something else too. Something in the way that she was looking at him; something about it was making his heart pick up a pace that began to feel just a little too uncomfortable, and then there was the fact that there seemed to be a pink light surrounding the two of them. _Not _something that he ever would have associated with said girl in a million years, even if a thousand and one stories told otherwise (which they didn't), and it was kind of creeping him out.

_Hold on…what is she doing now?_

The boy's eyes widened as the girl began to close her violet eyes and lean towards him, the feel of a pair of hands reaching up and entwining themselves behind his neck. Time became irrevocably slowed. A second became an eternity as Rika Nonaka's lips parted slightly right before they made contact with his own…

* * *

_**"EEEEYYYYAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!"**_

Ryan bolted upright as the last echoes of his scream reverberated in the parking garage, breathing heavily as sweat dripped down his face and his heart beat a mile a minute. Looking around uncertainly, Ryan narrowed his green eyes, trying to get his bearings.

_Okay…what…the…fu…?_

_"I warned ya," _spoke up the voice from within the boy's mind, and Ryan's eyes widened to the size of golf balls upon hearing it. _"And be careful about your next thought. We're trying to keep this at a PG-13 rating. Or is it TV-Y? Eh. Whatever. I could never figure out that stupid rating system."_

_Huh? Wha…? Who…?_

_"Why? When? How?"_

Ryan growled.

_Okay…__**who**__…?!_

_"Hush. Hush. Remember rating? And inside voices too if you can help it…like that will matter in a few minutes. By the time that you get down to the Hypnos building there'll be enough noise that no librarian is going to be able to silence you. As for my identity I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. I've been with you ever since you arrived here. I've just been without a voice up until now. I'll have to thank Milleniummon for that…of course I __**was**__ slated to make an appearance later on. In a fic such as this I'm __**bound**__ to show up."_

Ryan opened and closed his mouth, trying to find the appropriate words to say what was on his mind, but so completely disoriented by the situation that he found himself in that he couldn't speak even if his life depended on it. In his mind, the mysterious voice chuckled.

_"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Or rather…__**Wildcat?"**_

At that, the brown haired boy promptly balled up his fist and brought it sailing to the side of his head. _Hard._

_"Now that wasn't very nice,"_ spoke the voice in cool amusement as Ryan cursed from the pain that he had inflicted upon himself. _"Now if you're done playing the fool don't you think that it's best that you start moving already? There's a job to do."_

_What…__**ARE YOU?!?!**_Ryan roared in his own head, clutching the sides of said extremity, feeling as though his mind were unraveling at the seams._**WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!?!**_

There was a dry chuckle echoing in the silence of Ryan's mind.

_"You still can't guess? Oh well. If you need a clue I'll give you one later. As I said there's trouble on the horizon and approaching at warp speed. The Tamer's are already at Hypnos duking it out with that tiger Deva Mihiramon. Problem is he's possessed by something. An author I think. And even though I'm not technically supposed to go against my creators I still have a responsibility to see that the story gets finished, and that nothing impedes its resolution. If the script wasn't so tightly bound to you it wouldn't be that big of a deal but unfortunately the situation has changed…"_

Ryan growled as he staggered to his feet, trying to shut out the voice that continued to prattle on in his mind as well as taking note of the fact that there were no signs of the battle that he had been a part of in this parking lot. Shrugging it off and leaning against a concrete pillar for a moment he failed to see his right arm turn into television static for a moment. After a second of rest Ryan pushed off and made his way down to where Richoemon lay, having spotted him after waking up from his nightmare. As he strove to wake the orange colored, tiger striped dinosaur up from his apparent slumber, Ryan hoped…_prayed_ that what was happening to him was just the after affect of having been shot by that strange entity from earlier.

* * *

A door slammed open and a disheveled figure staggered out of the hotel room that the door led to. Leaning back against the wall of the hotel's hallway John paused a moment to catch his breath, noting just how _wasted_ he felt at this moment. No surprise considering the amount of energy that he had just used, as well as being at the epicenter of it all. He just hoped that he could recover sufficiently enough to deal with whatever was going on. And he knew that _something_ was happening. Well, more so than what the original episode entailed that was for sure. He could feel it in the air. The big hole in the sky he was pretty indifferent to, something that would have surprised the regular pedestrian that was passing by but then he had seen…and created…stranger things in his short existence. Or rather his real self did. Sometimes he wasn't sure. The nature of an author's avatar was one full of complexities, and none of them ever seemed to agree with each other. Such was the case now, though he wasn't going to go into it right away. 

A small, animal like digimon levitating on what looked to be small puffs of clouds floated on over to John, its eyes full of concern.

"You okay buddy?"

"Ecstatic Tapirmon," said John in between gasps. "I feel like Renamon ran me through one of her morning exercises and forgot to call for a time out…"

"You made the bed…" began Tapirmon only to be silenced by a glare from his human partner.

"I'd advise you to _not_ finish that sentence."

_"Yes. __**Please!**__" _Commented the familiar voice of V-Mon, the Japanese version, and original blue colored, hard headed digimon partner to the _Inheritor of Courage_.

"Right," said John. "Anyway, like Daisuke was saying earlier when he was trying to wake us up a serious problem has just landed on our shores."

Tapirmon cocked his head to one side.

"Just how bad are we looking at exactly? I missed some of that when I was recovering…"

"To quote a famous author…_ "Creampuff and fan folks. Creampuff…and fan."_ In short, we're in _very_ deep here. I think an author has come to town."

_"That's what I was trying to tell you guys," _piped in Daisuke's disembodied voice._ "I took the liberty of checking out his profile before you two popped back into existence. Didn't get a chance to see the whole thing, but does the name __**Demon Dayz**__ have any meaning to you?"_

John scratched his chin half heartedly as he pushed off the wall and began to head towards the nearest stairwell.

"Just that he was one of those authors who had joined the Lord of Fantasy back during the Fable War. The _Battle of Odaiba_ if I recall correctly…"

"Well, we _were_ there…" muttered Tapirmon though John ignored him.

"…From what I know and have seen he was a pretty not-so-nice kind of guy. Liked dark stories and his writing is reputed to be a little disturbing…and even had the nasty habit of psychologically _unbalancing_ anyone who reads his stuff. Ironically he's not at all a bad person to talk to. At the very least I never thought that he was a really bad guy. Only talked to him once myself. I always wondered why he joined up with the Lord of Fantasy…"

_"Who knows why these guys do half the things that they do?"_ Interrupted V-Mon. _"All I know is he's here and he's about to tangle with the Tamers. Authors aren't exactly renown for playing fair…"_

John nodded grimly as he raised his digivice.

_Too bad I can't biomerge right now. Man…where's Alice when you need her? This is rather ridiculous…oh well. At least I sense that Ryan's on the move. I just hope that he's got enough sense to not do anything stupid. He seemed like a halfway decent character as far as common sense goes…_

_…_

_Who am I kidding? This is a digimon episode! Murphy's Law is a natural part of life here! That and idiot, unobservant adults…WHATEVER! We've got some serious trouble here and if we don't do something about it __**now**__ then we'll never get back to the Fanfic Domain!_

John suddenly broke into a run. Taken off guard by the unexpected action Tapirmon struggled to keep up with him. Frowning, John pulled out a card from his deck box and willed it into a Blue card, preparing it for slashing.

"Let's do this, Tapirmon," John said in a low voice.

Shortly after the author had said those words the sound of a wall smashing apart as a massive object collided with it echoed throughout the city.

* * *

_This is crazy,_ thought Ryan deliriously as he ran down the streets, carrying Richoemon on his back due to the fact that his partner's short legs wouldn't help him keep up with his larger, human companion. _Here I am, rushing headlong into a dangerous situation with an exhausted and battered partner at the behest of some weird voice in my head…which has thankfully been silent since I left the parking garage but still…__**without **__a __**digivice!**_

_Someone please tell me that there is something about this whole thing that reeks of insanity…_

_And yet, here I am…__**still**__ running towards the source of the disturbance._

_And just __**where**__ did my digivice go anyway?_

Ryan tossed a look over his shoulder, having not gotten an answer from either himself or the strange _inner-voice_ that had been bothering him since he had woken up in the parking garage after the fight with that strange static like entity.

"How're you holding up Richoemon?"

"I've felt better…" mumbled the orange, tiger-striped dinosaur as he shook his head, trying to get his zebra-like mane of hair out of his eyes. "Now do you mind telling me why it is we're heading towards Hypnos when there's a hole in the sky, a digital field on the building's top, and without your digivice?"

"You know…I was just wondering the same thing. All I know is, if it helps keep the voices quiet then I figure that I'm fine with it."

"Huh?" Richoemon looked at his partner with a befuddled expression on his face, not at all understanding Ryan's reasoning. Before Ryan could even begin to respond the sound and feel of the earth shaking beneath their feet reached them. Turning both digimon and human OC's were surprised to see the overbearing form of a Mammothmon charging down the streets in their direction. And atop of its back sat the proud form of one author known to them as simply…John.

"HEY GUYS!" Shouted John from his spot on top of his partner digimon. "GLAD TO SEE THAT YOU TWO MADE IT! NEED A LIFT?"

"Actually…" began both Ryan and Richoemon, but in what was fast becoming a seemingly endless string of interruptions a blast of dark energy erupted from atop the Hypnos building and came crashing down in front of the four characters, blasting chunks of concrete and asphalt all around them. Looking over at the rising smoke, Ryan and Richoemon's eyes widened as a dark colored version of Mihiramon stepped out into the open to greet them.

"Your time has come OC's," the author possessed Mihiramon growled. "Say good-bye to your scripts."

_Um-nice kitty?_ Thought Ryan sarcastically as Mammothmon charged towards the dark Deva, John leaping off and slashing the Speed and Power modify cards through his D-Arc.

**"Tusk Crusher!"** Shouted Mammothmon as he fired a twin pair of rockets from his tusks at his opponent. The Tiger Deva batted them to the side with contemptuous ease and then lunged at the elephant, crashing into him and clawing at his thick hide and fur with his claws. The Mammothmon held firm though, but his lack of appendages to grapple with the enemy was seriously handicapping the Ultimate level Vaccine.

"Rrrrgh…" Growled Mammothmon as he struggled with Mihiramon. "Sorry. You don't get any Calvin and Hobbes moments out of me today. The Tiger _isn't_ always the king of the jungle…"

"That's right," said John as he fanned through his deck of cards, trying to find the right card to use in order to help his comrade. "It's supposed to be the Lion if I'm not mistaken."

John turned to look at Ryan and Richoemon, who so far had not made a move to do anything in regards to lending a hand.

"Hey! You two growing roots or what? We've got a battle on our hands here!"

"Yeah, I noticed," said Ryan in a deadpan voice as he put his partner on the ground. "Unfortunately my digivice is missing in action at the moment…"

"What? Oh you've gotta be _kidding _me! Man, where's that Viral Conversion card that I picked up before signing up for that dumb cruise? For that matter, where the heck are the Tamers? Don't tell me that this author polished them off already…"

Suddenly a series of attacks surged forwards from behind the dark colored Mihiramon and crashed into him from behind. Snarling out of pain and surprise, Mihiramon sprung backwards and transformed his tail into a three part nunchaku connected by chains and brought it down hard on Mammothmon's armored skull with enough force to make him fall to his knees. Flapping his great wings, Mihiramon rose into the air to regroup before attacking again.

_"They're here," _spoke up the strange voice in Ryan's mind as he saw the forms of Kyubimon, Growlmon, and Gargomon rushing towards them. For some reason Ryan's gaze was glued in the direction of Kyubimon, taking note of a familiar red colored, spiky haired figure running behind her.

"That's funny," said Richoemon. "How come they're all still digivolved? Didn't Mihiramon beat them down one by one in the original episode?"

With an effort Ryan pulled his eyes away from the Tamers and looked over at his partner.

"I'm pretty sure that we diverged from the original script already Richoemon…"

The sudden shift of wind caught Ryan's attention. Looking up quickly he saw Mihiramon surging towards him, his _Armor Tiger Tail_ attack making its way towards him, murder in its owners eyes. Ryan felt his body tense up.

_Aw nuts…_ he thought as words once more began to flash across his vision.

* * *

7 


	56. Chapter 56

Disclaimer: Wash, rinse, and repeat.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 55

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen

**Much Ado about Fiction**: Part 3

"Jeez Ryan! Would you stop gawking and get out of the way?!" Exclaimed John as he threw himself at the OC and sent all three of them crashing to the ground, narrowly avoiding the giant sansetsukon that made up the dark Mihiramon's tail. As the tiger Deva once more raised its armored tail, Mammothmon crashed into him, howling shrilly and slashing with his horns in an attempt to keep Mihiramon's focus away from the three characters. John hoisted Ryan and Richoemon back to their feet.

"What is _with_ you?! You almost got yourself sent back to limbo again, just like that time with BlackWarGreymon, only this time I wouldn't have been able to pull you out of there, and…"

"Hel-LO!" Shouted Richoemon waving his claws around frantically. "Giant digimon beating up on Mammothmon here!"

"Aw cripes…!"

John turned back just in time to see Mihiramon land a brutal blow on his partner's face with his Armored variation of his Tiger Tail attack, snapping off one of his tusks clean off. Howling in pain, Mammothmon surged forward and tried to gore Mihiramon with his remaining tusk, only to miss as the giant tiger digimon leapt into the sky and fired a purple ball of energy that crackled with black lightning from his mouth. The ball smashed into Mammothmon with deadly force and sent him careening to the ground with a crash. As John dug into his deck to try and find a card that could turn the tables for them in their favor Mihiramon turned to face the oncoming Tamers, their digimon coming to a halt in front of the Deva, taking a brief moment to analyze the situation and prepare their attacks.

**"Pyro Blaster!"** Shouted the crimson colored dinosaur-dragon named Growlmon as a stream of superheated fire burst from his mouth, his mane of white hair blowing back from the wind that the attack kicked up.

**"Gargo Lasers!"** Shouted Gargomon as blasts of green lasers burst from the guns attached to his arms, each blast illuminating the darkness around him.

**"Fox Tail Inferno!"** Shouted Kyubimon as she fired blasts of blue fire from the burning tips of her tails, each one looking like a demonic ghost as they raced towards their target.

A dark smile spread across Mihiramon's face as the three digimon's attacks surged towards him.

"**Nightmare Wind!"** The tiger shouted, and streams of dark energy swept across the battlefield, blasting away Growlmon, Kyubimon, and Gargomon's attacks with almost contemptuous ease. Swinging his tail around, Mihiramon aimed it towards the three Tamer's digimon, extending its length as soon as it cleared the buildings so that it not only reached out towards them, but also encompassed them, leaving them with no room to escape as the tail turned weapon impacted into them and drove them into a building.

"What the…?" Exclaimed Richoemon in surprise. "Mihiramon's _never_ been shown to have attacks like that before!"

John turned to the little dinosaur.

"You're just noticing that _now?_ For me the alteration in color was a dead giveaway…of course so was Daisuke's and V-Mon's screaming in my head about this guy but… V-Mon! I'm going to tell you for the _last_ time! I _can't_ pronounce a hyphen, so would you kindly…_**Shut…UP?!"**_

"This is really starting to go down the road of lunacy," muttered Ryan before turning back to John. "Any ideas on how we can stop this guy?"

"You mean besides pounding him 'till he says _uncle?_" Rumbled Mammothmon as he got back to his feet.

"I'm pretty sure that Ryan was hoping for something a little less obvious then that," said John as he slashed a recharge card through his digivice, giving his partner a fresh infusion of data that healed his injuries, replacing his shattered tusk and renewing his energy so that he was ready for another pass at the Deva. "But you do raise a good point. We _need_ an idea on how to defeat him because sheer brute force isn't going to do it here. For one thing Mihiramon is possessed by an author named _Demon Dayz, _and that on its own gives him quite a major power boost…not to mention a few nifty tricks. Crap, if he's got a muse with him he'll be able to rewrite sections of this battle to make it so that no matter what we do we can't win!"

_"I wouldn't worry about that,"_ chuckled a voice that was starting to become an obnoxiously familiar presence in Ryan's head. _"Besides, it's not like that sort of thing has been doing those guys any good lately…"_

_Go away,_ grumbled Ryan, feeling completely and utterly useless in this battle. Without his digivice he might as well not even be there. Well, not like he was ever at all that useful in the first place. So far his role as a Digidestined type character had been limited to digivolving his partner and shouting encouragement and occasionally insults (directed at an enemy) from the sidelines like some glorified cheerleader.

_I've gotta think of something…hold on. What was it that the Tamers always used to be shown doing in the story when I worked with them? Something about…_

_"You really should have watched the TV show, you know that?"_ Quipped the voice in amusement. Ryan glowered and gritted his teeth.

"Blue cards," stammered out Ryan. "Why not make more Blue Cards for the canon characters and have them Matrix digivolve? I'm sure that would cause some trouble for…"

SMASH!

Mammothmon impacted with the ground once more as Mihiramon drove the armored spike of his tail into his head, ripping off the giant digimon's faceplate and sending it flying into the air where it burst into shards of data. John collapsed to the ground, crying out and holding onto his ribs as the pain from his partner surged through the link that the two of them shared. With a hideous cackle, Mihiramon landed on the ground and stalked towards the Ultimate level Vaccine, a dark aura surrounding his body. As Ryan watched Mihiramon approach, armored tail whipping back and forth, words once more began to coalesce in his mind's eye, building up until they became all that he could see.

_Wha…? What the…? Not this again! Not __**now!**__ This is __**the**__ worst possible time to pull something like this!_

His skull pounding, Ryan clamped his hands to his head, feeling as though he were being ripped in two. He felt his legs unhinge as the words blanketed his vision. Voices began to run together in his mind as well, overlapping each other until they became overwhelming. His own voice was lost in them as well, though he shouted to be heard over their intensity. He strained to hear himself, or at least _one_ voice, any voice that could pierce through all the others.

_No…no…no…no…__**NO! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!**_

Ryan opened up his eyes, trying to see past the words that tore across his vision. He thought that he heard something large whistling through the air. There was someone trying to push him out of the way as well. It could have been Richoemon or John for all he knew but whoever it was they certainly weren't doing a good job of it. It was over…

_No,_ thought Ryan fiercely to himself. _It can't! Not…like…__**this!**_

Suddenly all the words that had been flashing across his vision faded, and were replaced by two. Ryan read them, feeling a little bit confused as to what they meant.

**"Dragon Slash!"**

_Huh?_ Ryan thought intelligently before reading the words again to make sure that he had gotten them.

Suddenly Ryan's vision of the world returned, just in time to see the massive form of Growlmon crash into Mihiramon, driving him backwards, followed up shortly by Kyubimon as she rolled into a ball, firing a burning blue dragon like flame at the Deva. As Mihiramon prepared to counterattack a certain long eared gun bunny ran up to him and leapt into the air, green flames licking at his gun barrels as he delivered a smashing blow to Mihiramon's chin. Not deterred however, Mihiramon flapped his wings and ascended into the air, growling at them.

"Annoying insects! I thought that I had just defeated you," the tiger Deva said to them as he gnashed his teeth.

"Guess again!" Shouted Gargomon. "We're the kind that just keeps coming back no matter how many times that you blast us…or mash us into the side of a building…or bat us away with that tail of yours…"

Ryan could have sworn that he heard Henry call Gargomon's name in exasperation.

The author within the tiger Deva snorted. Although Gargomon had a point there, it only held true in stories where the author permitted that sort of thing to occur no matter how many times the characters were in a position where they should have died or, if failing that, just plain lost. Since they were characters that were central to the story he had free reign over the things that they did, and he was certain that he had written them as being _out of commission _following that hit from his tail.

Mihiramon's gaze went over to the OC's and he glowered.

Unless that is, the OC's were messing up the planned script even more than he and his compatriots have thought.

_All the more reason to destroy them,_ growled Mihiiramon as a sphere of dark energy began to build up in his jaw. The three Tamers and their digimon were inconsequential at the moment. They may be showing some _limited_ amount of autonomy from the script but that would soon change. Oh yes. If he had anything to say about it, it would…

Gasping, John looked up to see Mihiramon charging up for another attack. Reacting on pure instinct John grabbed whatever card he had currently available and morphed it into a Blue card. Recalling Ryan's earlier babbling he summoned as much of his author power as he possibly could and tossed it towards the three Primary Tamers.

"HERE! USE THIS CARD!" He called out, catching their attention. Time seemed to slow down at that moment as the card flew towards the Tamers. Rays of dark light grew in Mihiramon's mouth at such a rate that, had any of the characters been outside of the _fiction zones_ alteration of the speed of the stories plot, they would have had time to go out and grab pizza by the box before they had to come back. The card sailed through the air, its course invariably taking it towards a certain goggle-wearing Tamer who even now was reaching out reflexively towards it…

Only to have it snatched out of the air in front of him by a hand belonging to one Rika Nonaka.

"Hey!" Exclaimed Takato in surprise as the red haired girl drew the card to her blue-trimmed digivice.

"I'll take that. Ready Kyubimon?"

"Always," said the nine-tailed vixen as she leapt into the air, faintly wondering why Mihiramon hadn't yet unleashed his attack. Oh well. Who was she to argue with what was apparently a _good _thing?

Rika slashed the Blue Card through the slot of her D-Arc. Sparks flashed as the digivice scanned the data and transferred it into the Champion level kitsune.

"DIGI-MODIFY! MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

A sphere of data surrounded Kyubimon as words involuntarily erupted from her mouth.

M-A-T-R-I-X D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N 

"KYUBIMON, MATRIX DIGIVOLVE TOOO…TAOMON!"

**"Sphere of Darkness!"** Shouted Mihiramon as he fired away at the helpless OC's beneath him. The sphere surged towards where they stood as the newly evolved Ultimate level Taomon raised a symbol in her hand and threw it to intercept.

**"Talisman Star!"**

The two attacks impacted with each other and exploded, canceling each other out. Not wasting a moment Taomon leapt into the air, her brush emerging from one, long sleeve. Gripping it in her paw, Taomon slashed the brush through the air in several fluid motions, and a symbol flared to life in front of her, a symbol that aimed directly at Mihiramon.

John shifted his focus into his link between himself and Taomon as he held the unconscious form of Tapirmon in his arms. Knowing full well that it wouldn't be good for him in the long run, he sent a little bit of his energy into Taomon as she attacked. She was going to need it if she was going to beat an Author…

**"Talisman of Light!"**

Mihiramon screamed as the symbol exploded into light and sent out a beam of pure, white energy rushing towards him where it impacted with his side, tearing through armor and flesh as though it were mere toilet paper. Before too long Growlmon and Gargomon added their own attacks to Taomon's. Mihiramon crashed into the ground once more, data leaking from his body from where he had been struck. His breathing harsh, the author-possessed tiger Deva gathered the remnants of his strength and spoke to John, too weak as he was from his injuries to launch an attack against him. John met the Deva's gaze easily as he held onto his partner.

"This…isn't over," Mihiramon rasped in a voice that wasn't his own. It was a voice that held the cold, dark feel of entombment, of hopelessness beyond all imagination. "You may have…vanquished me…_this…_time, but know this…I will be back. The chosen pairings will reign supreme and not _you_… or your friend," Mihiramon gave Ryan an especially dark glare at that. Ryan gulped but said nothing. Mihiramon continued. "…Will do anything to stop the Trinity. All other stories will fall before us and ours will reign supreme!"

John simply stared at Mihiramon for a moment before giving his own response, which was surprisingly sarcastic and calm given the situation that he had just been in.

"At least you had a better _villain speech_ than the dubbed Mihiramon did. Seriously, I wanted to say _'and I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you rotten kids'_ every time I heard it. Now hurry up and delete already. We don't have all night you know."

No sooner then those words had been spoken the form of Mihiramon disintegrated, shards of data floating away, leaving behind a dark, transparent form with demonic wings. Glancing around itself, taking note of each of the characters that were gathered around him, the dark figure spread its wings and flew up towards the sky, easily evading the grasping claws of Growlmon and Gargomon's laser blasts. The dark figure flew higher and higher until finally it reached a zenith point and disappeared in an all too familiar fog that appeared from out of nowhere.

John watched the fog dissipate for a moment, seemingly unaware of the canon characters that were now standing in front of him, looking at him, Ryan, and Richoemon with confused looks.

John paused a moment, resisting the urge to chuckle a little bit, feeling a little bit awkward now.

_No doubt that they'll have all sorts of questions…here's hoping that they'll believe the answers that we have._

_"Whoa…how're you going to hide that guy from your parents Takato?"_ Spoke up the all too familiar voice of Daisuke suddenly, only to be interrupted by the voice of his blue skinned partner, V-mon.

_"Daisuke? You do realize that Growlmon didn't digivolve to Ultimate in this episode, right?"_

_"Force of habit,"_ Daisuke replied nonchalantly. The Tamers blinked suddenly and looked around them, searching for the source of the voices. Gargomon took a moment to clean his ears with the mechanical fingertips in the middle of his gunbarrels.

"Taomon?" Asked Rika to the vulpine shaman, who shook her head, indicating that she saw and sensed no one who could have spoken other than themselves and the newcomers in front of them.

"Okay," said Henry finally. "Would one of you guys please explain to us what's going on here?"

_Daisuke,_ thought John with a note of sarcasm in his thoughts. _You've just made our lives a whole lot easier…if not more complicated._

_"I'll say,"_ spoke up Daisuke again. _"Looks like it's going to be a whole new world on the next Digimon, Digital Monsters!"_

V-mon moaned.

* * *

6 


	57. Chapter 57

Disclaimer: If I could, I would, but I can't. I don't own Digimon, or its concept. Just this storyline and a small number of OC's. All else goes to various companies and other authors.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 56

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen

The Voices Speak…sort of 

Ryan shifted on the ground and sighed, his body feeling perfectly content with itself after the rest that he had. Distantly he heard a bird chirp and the sound of something clanging against what was most likely a dish and…_chewing?_ Feeling that it must be his imagination Ryan shifted again and pulled the blanket that surrounded him closer and… Ryan paused as he digested this. _Blanket?_ He thought, searching his memory. He didn't recall having one when he bedded down last night after that fight with the author possessed Mihiramon. Opening his eyes the first thing that Ryan saw was his digivice lying on the floor in front of him, right where he had placed it after Rika had returned the item to him (something that had surprised him a little, if only because she had had it in the first place). The next thing that he had seen immediately following that was a layer of blue colored fabric surrounding him.

_Oookay…not that I'm complaining but…what…?_

_"Awww," _chided a voice from within the depths of Ryan's mind. _"Isn't that sweet? Rika covered you with a blanket last night…"_

Ryan bolted upwards and threw the blanket off of him as though it was a live wire. Within his mind he heard that all too annoying voice chuckle at him.

_Quiet you,_ thought Ryan as he glowered in his mind and leaned back against the wall that he had been sleeping against and closed his eyes, trying to get his bearings. Alas, his bearings were going to be some time in the getting part as a very familiar voice spoke up from next to him.

" 'Bout time you woke up," said the voice that Ryan was all too familiar with, and his body tensed, feeling some slight heat crawl across his face at the same time. Ryan groaned and looked to the side, finally taking notice of the red haired girl who was calmly sitting next to him, eating breakfast.

"And good morning to you too Rika," said Ryan glumly as he rubbed at his eyes and took a look around the Nonaka residence's living room, faintly recalling some of the events that had placed both him and John in this house. Following the defeat of Mihiramon, the voice of Daisuke had chipped in his two cents, with the Tamers actually hearing him this time much to their own confusion. John had tried to provide an answer to the questions that had immediately followed, which was rather difficult given the circumstances. Telling someone that they were fictional characters that had their memories altered for a fan fiction story is not the easiest thing to do (from what Ryan recalled from his readings on a period of fan fiction history known as _The Awakening_, it hadn't been easy then either, and it had been even worse when Ruki had _awaken_). Surprisingly though Rika seemed to be the only one who accepted the explanation hands down without too much to say (at least at the time) other than, _'That explains a lot'_. Takato was stuck in the middle, unsure of what direction to go with his opinion and Henry was understandably skeptical. Due to the late hour they had all agreed to convene again in the morning and discuss things in greater detail.

It had been shortly afterwards, after Takato, Guilmon, Henry, and Terriermon had left that John had informed Ryan and Richoemon that their _establishment_ had been wrecked when Tapirmon digivolved. It was then that Rika, clear out of the blue, offered her place for them to stay until things were sorted out.

Absently Ryan recalled a conversation that he once had with a fellow OC about how stories involving a romance with Rika tended to have the main hero or heroes stay at her house.

_I swear,_ thought the boy as he ran a hand through his hair irritably. _Someone is doing this to make my life difficult. And when I find out who heads are going to roll._

A certain voice spoke up in his head once again.

_"Sorry. But that's just how it all came out when you got here. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and it didn't help that Rika already…"_

"So where's John?" Asked Ryan, not wanting to hear whatever else that stupid voice had to say, while at the same time wondering just what it's purpose was. Besides annoying him and having fun at his expense that is…

"Outside with Renamon," replied Rika simply in between mouthfuls. Ryan glanced at her bowl to find out just what it was that she was eating, only to find nothing that he could see beyond a gray colored blur.

_Looks like someone wanted to show her as having something Japanese to eat but didn't bother to go looking for a name or description,_ thought Ryan. _Lazy bum. And he calls himself an author…_

"So far," continued Rika, unaware of Ryan's observation and the extreme lack of taste in her food due to its minor role in the story's action. "All Renamon and your friend have been doing is stare at each other."

Ryan tilted his head and looked at the girl.

"What? You mean like talking with their minds the way you and Renamon do sometimes?"

Rika regarded the OC with a cool gaze that made Ryan want to flinch. After a second she placed her bowl on the ground and gave him her full attention.

"I don't suppose that you mind explaining to me how you know about _that_, or how your friend is capable of the same thing?"

_Why do I keep ending up on the wrong end of the stick here?_ Thought Ryan as he looked away and gathered his thoughts.

"Um…well, it's…complicated…"

"_Un-_complicate it then," said Rika in a tone that sounded annoyed. "Last night you two blathered on about how me and the others are really some kind of…_fictional_ _characters_ and that we wound up in someone else's story…"

"Fan fiction," coughed Ryan. "It's not really as nonsensical as it sounds…well, not from my point of view at least but…"

"Get to the point."

_"Hey, dudette. Calm down and let him explain already…"_

"Daisuke," said Ryan feeling slightly relieved to hear the Digidestined's voice. "Maybe it'd be better if you took it from here…"

Rika narrowed her eyes.

"And what's wrong with _you_ explaining it?"

Ryan flinched this time.

_You mean besides the fact that Daisuke's intangible and you scare me at times? Absolutely no reason at all._

Somehow, Ryan felt that that answer would not go over all that well. Sighing in defeat Ryan decided that he might as well talk, unless Daisuke was going to say something which he didn't seem at all inclined towards doing at the moment.

"Um…well…we've done some work together on a story one time and that part of your relationship with Renamon came up a couple times…I think. Plus Richoemon has seen every episode from your series and the assorted movies so he knew about it in advance. As for John and Renamon's connection…"

Ryan fought back the urge to wince, hoping that Rika didn't decide to knock him out when he revealed the next bit of information.

"…Well, they were in a relationship before everything went down. Renamon made a link between them and it carried through in here. Don't ask me how they got together though I wasn't there when it happened…"

"Didn't _exist_ if I recall correctly," said Richoemon as he entered the room from outside.

"That's kind of what I meant but I didn't want to complicate things further."

_"Yeah. Nice job dude."_

"Sorry," said Richoemon as he sat down in front of the two characters and sniffed in the direction of Rika's bowl, raising an eyebrow at it before looking over at Ryan.

"Un-described food stuff again?"

Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Richoemon…"

"What? It was just a question! I don't know how anyone can even eat that stuff! No taste…"

_"It's not bad if you're not aware that you're eating it,"_ said Daisuke. Rika just looked back and forth between the two characters and shrugged her shoulders.

_I probably don't even want to know,_ the red headed Tamer thought glancing at her bowl.

"So what are you exactly?" Asked Rika as she returned her gaze to Ryan. "And what about your friend there? He's not like any digimon that I've ever seen or heard of before…"

_"And you wouldn't under normal circumstances,"_ said V-mon. _"These two are OC's…Original Characters. Unofficial characters for the digimon franchise made by fans…"_

"I've heard of that stuff before," said Rika. "Stories written by people with no lives basically. And the others and me are supposed to be like you, only like the characters from the digimon show instead, except we're real. What's weird is that I feel that I know what you're saying is right but I don't get how that's possible. I don't remember anything about that and I don't get how characters can be real at all."

"Daisuke would be better to field that one," said Ryan. "He lived through all of it himself…"

_"Almost all of it,"_ said Daisuke's voice. _"Taichi and the first season gang lived through it before me. From the Awakening, through the X-Evolution…"_

_"…Which ended mainly because of the awakening,"_ said V-mon. _"That, and Ruki spearheaded the movement to end the fics associated with the X-Evolution…"_

_"The movement was already around before her, but yeah she was the driving force that's for sure. And then there are the various coupling battles and Flame Wars that went on and off…__**Kerfluffles**__ I think that period is known as…"_

Rika turned to Ryan with a bemused look on her face.

"I think that there's more information then I can absorb in one sitting."

Ryan nodded.

"Yeah. It still turns the head of any newcomers, OC or otherwise."

"It's why Ryan flunked last weeks history test," beamed Richoemon happily.

"Thanks for sharing that, Richoemon," said Ryan in a deadpan voice. "It's hard enough having to keep track of a fictional history for your own world in addition to fanfiction history. There are some people out there who equate the **Motomiya period** with that of Japan's **Muromachi **period, and I just got confused on the differences between the two." Ryan frowned. "Stupid trick question…"

"I think that I'll keep my questions to current events," said Rika. "Or at least as close to them as possible just so you can keep up. For starters I'd like to know what happened in that parking garage, and just what this is all about."

"I'm pretty sure that we can save the question and answer survey for when we meet up with the other Tamers," said John as he entered the room. Rika glared at the boy for a moment before nodding her head.

"Fine," she said. "I have a feeling that it'll be worth it, but don't interrupt me when I'm having a conversation again or I swear you'll be sleeping outdoors next time."

"I'll keep that in mind," said John. "Now when did we have to meet the others again?"

"Henry said seven and it's almost quarter of now."

"Then we might as well get going," said John.

Rika picked up her bowl and got up.

"I'll let Grandma know what's going on," said the red haired girl as she exited the room. Ryan turned to John.

"You know, I still can't get over how she told her grandmother about Renamon and everything this early in the season, never mind how easily Seiko accepted it and let us stay here."

"Yeah. I know what you mean. But that's how some of these stories work. Authors have to get around certain difficulties in writing even if they aren't necessarily realistic, but then Seiko isn't like most people that were portrayed on this show. She had it together quite a lot compared to most adults who were easily fooled by digimon pretending to be toys or guys in suits…"

"…Or demanding that a Mammothmon respect other people's property before chucking a motorcycle helmet at it," said Tapirmon as he joined them, obliquely referring to the twenty-ninth episode of the first season of digimon.

"That too," said John nodding. "Though I'm a little bit concerned about Rumiko's reaction. Somehow her squealing nonstop about Rika _bringing boys home_ doesn't sit well with me…"

"It doesn't sit well with _you?!"_ Exclaimed Ryan incredulously. "How do you think _I_ feel right now?"

John tapped the end of his chin as he thought it over.

"Yeah, you do have quite a bit to worry about over that, don't you? I mean, on one hand you're being absorbed by this story's script, which as you noted by scanning this story's stats is a romance story that _was_ supposed to be between Rika and Takato, only instead that genre seems to have picked you for some reason…"

"It's getting worse too," said Ryan as he clutched the sides of his head. "I…oh man…I have a voice in my head…"

John chuckled. "I know. It's called Daisuke and V-mon."

_"HEY!"_

"It's not them," said Ryan, clenching his eyes shut. "I'd know if it was and_ this_ one definitely isn't either one of them. Every time I hear it, it's making some kind of comment about Rika…and…me." Ryan shuddered as though he were contemplating the most horrific thing imaginable. John's expression became concerned and he kneeled down in front of the OC, placing one hand on his forehead.

"Tell me more," John said.

"Well…yesterday when I woke back up in the parking garage, it was trying to wake me up. Telling me all this weird stuff about how Rika…_ahem…needed_ me, and…uh…when I said that she didn't, it resorted to…_drastic_…measures to get me moving."

John raised an eyebrow.

"_How_ drastic?"

Ryan's face became cherry red. He couldn't even meet John's eyes.

_"HA! Admit it! You liked it!"_ Crowed the voice inside Ryan's mind, causing John to hiss in surprise, his hand pulling away from Ryan's forehead as though it burned him.

"Crap. I know what the problem is," said John. "You've got an _inner-voice_ in you!"

"Huh-wha-?"

"An _inner-voice,"_ repeated John. "It's common in romance genre's. Usually used in stories as a way of making characters _see the errors of their ways_ regarding a character that they're supposed to fall in love with." John shook his head. "I'd hate to be in your shoes right now."

"Can't you get rid of it?"

"Sorry. Those things don't usually come with a _return to sender_ stamp on 'em. The only surefire way that I know they can be gotten rid of is by…"

"I don't want to hear it," said Ryan, his hands turning into fists now.

"Ryan, it'll only get worse if you don't. If you resist it'll drive you insane! I've seen it happen before. Heck, almost every character has gone through it when they _awoke_, and they've reported the experience to not be a pleasant one. Even more so because they had no idea as to what was happening…"

Ryan pressed his fists to his eyes.

"I don't care. This…man, why did you guys _ever_ come up with this stuff in the first place?"

John sighed, knowing full well what Ryan meant.

"You make it sound like it's our fault…"

"Isn't it?"

John laid a comforting hand on Ryan's shoulder.

"Look. We authors didn't know that the Fanfic Domain would acquire a reality to it. Fan fiction sites have been around for years and none of them ever became what the Domain was so we had nothing to go on. That's why things didn't go well during the _Awakening_. It's why Ruki flipped out during _X-Evolution_. We just…didn't know that combining our belief like that would make characters real. If it helps you though, we authors deal with inner voices of our own too; everything from Muses to the ones that drive us to be as crazy as fangirls. You just wound up with a bit of bad luck, that's all."

Ryan still didn't look convinced.

"I didn't want this," he grumbled.

"Tough. You've got it. Now you can either sit here and stew about it, or you can focus your energies on beating on whatever it was that forced this on you. What's your choice going to be?"

_That wasn't what I was referring to,_ thought Ryan glumly. _But he does have a point there. I just hope that we get out of here and I lose this stupid __**inner voice**__ before I lose my mind._

"All right. I'm with you. Just one question. Is there any way that we can explain all this to the Tamers easily without confusing anyone…like reviving their memories?"

"If you're referring to using our digivices to do the job I still think that it's a stupid, and very contrived idea. It won't work. It's too cliché!"

"As far as I'm concerned it's cliché enough _to_ work given the stories that we've seen so far."

"Yeah, that's true so I'll give you that. But authors like Demon Dayz, the one we fought yesterday, they have a kind of code that they live by. Using clichés would be breaking that code. That's why it won't work."

"We could at least give it a try you know. Rika seemed to remember something after touching my digivice…"

"Except that you're forgetting that the script is absorbing you. Some of what makes you what you are affected it a little bit so it's bound to cause distortions like that. Whatever happened is likely not going to happen again. Especially seeing as how she's had it this long and only has vague recollections and occasional predictions of future events."

Ryan frowned.

"Always have to make it difficult, don't you?"

John grinned.

"That's the life and job of an author."

Renamon then phased into view in front of them.

"Let's go you two. Rika is waiting for you outside."

John nodded, and with that the characters, human and digimon left the confines of the house and met up with the red headed girl as she stood at the front gate, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for them.

"Finally. Was starting to think you two had grown roots or something. C'mon. The others are probably there by now and I don't want to have you two slowing us down."

As the characters exited the gate, Rika spoke aloud to the ever-invisible presence of Daisuke and V-mon.

"Hey. By the way. Why did you guys name a historical period after the digimon movie, X-Evolution?"

_This is going to be a long day,_ thought John as both he and Ryan tensed up.

8


	58. Chapter 58

Disclaimer: A statement made to avoid lawsuit from the powers that be. Therefore, I don't own Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 57

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen

**Much ado about Fiction Revisited: **Part 1

The rising sun set the sky aglow as Henry faced the other children who had gathered to meet him in the park. Behind him, the long eared troublemaker that all knew as Terriermon balanced precariously on one hand, giggling happily to himself, confident as he was in his ability to distract people and make a scene. To the boy's immediate left stood Takato, smiling happily to himself as if he was watching a dream come true though a gleam of curiosity over recent events and seriousness over what they meant to him and the others lay just beneath the surface of his happiness, and his expression was duplicated on the red dinosaur that stood next to him. Across from Takato stood Rika, Renamon, John, Tapirmon, Ryan, and Richoemon, with the partner of this last digimon looking strangely uncomfortable about something but at the moment did not say anything that would hint as to what it was. Rika, for her part looked nonchalant about the situation as if this was the sort of thing was completely normal in her life and had been so for years. John looked to be in deep thought, perhaps contemplating the meaning of existence, though given what had recently happened and his professed line of work that probably wasn't too far from the truth.

Richoemon fidgeted for a little bit and before anyone could speak, the little, tiger striped dinosaur opened his mouth.

"Well guys," he said. "It looks like it's going to be up to the six of us to save the world from any evil digimon from now on."

Blinking in utter surprise and confusion everyone turned to stare at Richoemon blankly. Richoemon sweatdropped.

"Sorry. But that was the opening line to this episode. I've always wanted to say it."

Ryan sighed.

"And I thought Guilmon was weird," muttered Terriermon sarcastically. At that, Richoemon raised one clawed hand and began folding it into a fist, one claw at a time as though he was counting down. As soon as the last claw was retracted Henry looked at Terriermon with an exasperated expression.

"Terriermon…" the dark haired boy said, trying to sound reasonable. Terriermon giggled. Richoemon looked over at Ryan.

"Told you that I had it down to a science," the dinosaur beamed gleefully. Shaking his head Ryan patted his partner on the top of his zebra mane covered head.

"Richoemon…I'm starting to think that you have too much time on your hands."

"Claws."

"Whatever."

"Anyway," coughed John. "If we can come to the point of our coming here. If I recall correctly Rika and Henry have places that they both have to be…"

"Okay," interrupted Henry sounding a little irritable at the moment. "Can you back up a minute here and try to explain things from the beginning? Seriously, I find this whole _we're fiction_ thing just a little too weird…"

"Never mind the fact that they seem to know our schedules inside and out," piped in Terriermon. "Though I have to say I kinda like the idea of my being on TV and knowing that my handsome mug is famous. I wonder who my press agent is…"

Richoemon, who had begun counting down again with his claws as soon as Terriermon began talking retracted the last one and held his breath.

"Terriermon…" began Henry as if on cue. Richoemon snickered, earning him a sharp glare from his partner.

_"And you're saying that __**we're**__ not weird?"_ Spoke up the voice of V-Mon from out of nowhere. _"Or that me and Daisuke aren't all the evidence that you need?"_

_"Yeah. You'd think that we'd be proof enough that things aren't what they seem. I mean we're fictional…"_

"But that doesn't make any sense," said Henry before pausing and taking a deep breath. "I don't believe it. I'm talking to bodiless voices that claim to be characters from the digimon TV show. How do I know that you're not John or Ryan doing ventriloquism?"

Terriermon raised his ears and giggled.

"Momentai, Henry. Do you really think that with faces like theirs they'd be capable of doing anything like that? They're like Guilmon, only with the innocence and not the lack of cleverness…"

"Hey!" Exclaimed Takato, while Guilmon cocked his head to one side in confusion.

"Look," said John, running a hand through his hair. "I admit that it sounds…bizarre. Believe me, you don't have any clue how weird it was for me finding out that you guys _were_ real. It still gets me sometimes but I find that the only way to get past it is to just not think about it. Granted, doing that is a lot harder than it sounds. I keep expecting to wake up in an insane asylum at any moment and find out it was all a product of my delusional mind. So far that hasn't happened so I suspect that's a good sign as to the question of my sanity. Regardless of whether you believe Ryan and me or not or decide to help us or not we're going to try and solve this mystery."

Henry shook his head, trying to get a grasp of some sense of reality in this odd situation that he had found himself in.

"Okay. Assuming that what you've told us last night _is _real," Henry paused to yawn and blinked his eyes. The events from last night combined with the shock of that particular revelation hadn't done him a whole lot of good in the sleeping department. And what was worse was that, for some reason unknowable to himself, he felt that what he had discovered was true. Was _right._

And that disturbed him.

Henry continued.

"Assuming that what you've told us last night is real, what are we supposed to do about it? And why don't Rika, Takato, me, our digimon, except for you guys remember anything about it?"

John frowned.

"We had an _incident_ a while ago that was similar to this," he began only to be interrupted when Daisuke overrode him, as if to remind everyone that yes, he was still there and not a product of their imagination.

_"Yeah. Some author like John here kidnapped all the dubbed versions of the first two seasons and tried to remake them to suit his image of how they should have been"_

"Thank you Daisuke for the commentary," said Tapirmon. "But you weren't there for that, remember? You were in a story that got shut down because of what the Lord of Fantasy did, and it took you and the other subs a while to reconstitute your corporeal forms."

Takato raised an arm.

"Um…I'm lost already…"

John sighed.

"Sorry. I guess that we both have to be patient with each other. This would be a whole lot easier if you had your memories, or at least an idea of the fan fiction world and all of its workings…"

"Fan fiction," said Rika, more to herself than to John. "That still sounds weird when I hear it."

John nodded.

"Yeah, well. I'd go into it in a bit more detail but we're kind of pressed for time here so I'll have to give you the shortened, _made for TV _version. To start with, a few years ago someone started up a site called the Fanfic Domain and turned it into a site for authors to go and publish stories about a show or story that they liked. Put their own spin on it you could say. What none of us ever expected was that our dreams and the strength of our beliefs wound up transforming the Fanfic Domain and turning it into a very real place. Essentially, it became something like the digital world, only _bigger_ and more complex so that it could encompass all the different thoughts, ideas, and beliefs."

Henry nodded slowly.

"I guess that makes sense. In the TV show the digital world was a mixture of data and people's dreams…"

"You got it," replied John, a small, relieved smile appearing on his face before resuming his tale. "For the most part though no one noticed that there was anything going on…until authors started disappearing into the Fanfic Domain and actually meeting the characters that they worked with. It got weird in some places…" John chuckled. "Of course, that's an understatement. It got _really_ weird _everywhere._ There's an author on the Fanfic Domain who would have put it quite well in fact the sheer degree that everything went wrong. That's why we now have certain codes and guidelines to emphasize that…"

"Yeah. The Keyo-Creampuff protocols," snickered Richoemon. "I think that a situation such as what happened when you characters first came to life would be a code with a label ranging from _hitting ceiling fan_ to _hitting turbine_. Not pretty no matter what way you slice the pie…"

"Mmmm…" Guilmon smacked his lips. "Pie…"

_"It certainly wasn't easy for me to deal with,"_ spoke up Daisuke. _The first fan fic I was in involved me getting seduced by a vampiric Hikari…"_

Heads snapped up at that while Ryan hid his face in his hands.

"Nice Dai…nice…thanks for sharing."

_"I'm just being honest."_

John coughed, trying to catch everyone's attention.

"Well, actually that would be a good subject to branch off of. It is at the heart of the matter actually."

"What?" Asked Terriermon, tilting his head to the side. "Daisuke getting seduced by…"

"TERRIERMON!"

Richoemon frowned.

"Shoot. I got distracted. Didn't get a chance to predict that one…"

"_Anyway,"_ John emphasized. "If we're done with the comments from the peanut gallery I'd like to finish explaining this. I realize that you guys have a lot of questions, but if you keep interrupting I won't get around to the main problem that's on our hands here. Now, what Daisuke has been _so_ kind to share with us is only _just_ a part of why you guys are here and don't remember us or that you're fictional characters."

John rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache beginning to build up. This was starting to become a little too much for him.

"Anyway…a short while ago there was a conflict between some authors called the Fable War. The cast of the first two seasons of digimon were captured and their stories rewritten so much that the original was covered over and the two stories overlapped, almost becoming indistinguishable. The reason for this is quite simple. Pairings."

There was a brief pause in the conversation.

"For a fair majority of people who watch TV shows and read stories they have…_preferences_ for certain characters, depending on that persons point of view and sexual orientation a character…_any _character would be set up in a story that involved another in a romance type setting, be it in their own universe or another. It's quite diversified, and authors tend to get…_twitchy_ about the pairings that they support. Authors have gone to war with each other over this sort of thing. It used to be worse in the beginning but things have simmered down lately due to better organization of rules and greater awareness of the authors affect on characters but you still find those who have beliefs that go back to the old ways of doing things. The _Daikari King_ for instance…"

John shuddered involuntarily. No matter how much he tried to believe, say, and do otherwise for some reason the word _Daikari_ or even the hinting of it gave him the shivers and made him want to go on a rampage in the city.

"…Well, never mind him. What I'm getting at is, the reason why you guys are here is because someone wanted control of your story and who you…_ahem…_fell in love with."

Ryan did his best to not look at Rika when he said that, but he could feel her hard gaze boring into him like a drill. The boy gulped nervously, feeling an intense heat wash over his body, making him sweat a little.

_Don't look at her. Don't look her. Don't look her…_

Ryan glanced over at Rika and had to resist the urge to flinch. She did _not_ look happy.

_Great. You looked at her…idiot._

Suddenly the ground looked a whole lot more interesting.

When Rika spoke, her voice was a smooth monotone, with the threat of thunder and lightning off in the distance to go along with it.

"So…you're telling me that all this…is just because someone wants to write a _love story?"_

John turned to the fiery haired, violet-eyed girl calmly, noting the spite that she put into the words _love story._

"Well, to be fair a lot of these stories are written by people who are mostly in their teens and undergoing puberty. That kind of thing tends to be an attention grabber. Kids feel that sort of thing speaks to them in a lot of ways. If it helps, you can look at it as a kind of psychiatry and outlet for their insecurities and desires."

John couldn't help but notice that Rika was glaring angrily at Ryan, as though he were somehow at fault for all this.

_Reminds me of Renamon on her awakening. She nearly killed Flamedramon that day…and Matt. Poor Matt…_

"Um…" began Takato uncertainly. "I'm not sure that I get it. What's the point of writing a story about two characters getting together? Especially if they weren't involved in the show?"

_"I'll take it from here John," _said Daisuke's voice. _"Tell me something Takato. When you were watching the first two seasons of digimon, who did you usually root for?" _

Takato raised an eyebrow, wondering where this conversation was going. The others seemed to take an interest in his answer.

"Well…Tai."

"Typical," muttered Rika, causing Takato to look at her with a hurt expression. Daisuke chuckled.

_"Yeah. I knew that. Now if you had to choose one of the digidestined girls for Tai to go out with, who would it be? Better yet, who did Tai seem to take an interest in?"_

"Sora," said Takato, still not realizing where Daisuke was going with this. "He looked like he liked her in that Christmas episode but she wanted to go out with Matt…"

_"Mm-hmmm."_ John could have sworn that Daisuke was grinning now even though he couldn't see him_ "So how did you feel when the last episode aired and revealed that she had married Matt instead of Tai?"_

"Disa…point…ed…" Takato trailed off as a light bulb clicked on upstairs.

"Give the man a medal," said John, smiling now as he crossed his arms. "That's how it is with fans in favor of the Tai and Sora fan coupling. "They believe in something so deeply that they have to write a story about it in their _own_ way if it had disappointed their expectations. Or even if it doesn't it's only to reinforce their preferences." John took a deep breath now as he prepared himself, hoping that Rika wouldn't kill anyone, specifically Takato, with what he said next, but he preferred it if she didn't try to kill Ryan or be angry at him for their situation if they were going to work together in this story. "However you look at it, people have their beliefs and their preferences and they will abide by them no matter what the show shows them, especially if it gives them some measure of comfort and happiness. Kind of like all those supporters for you being paired up with Rika even though the show doesn't have it happen."

As expected Takato's eyes went bug wide and his face began to turn a deep shade of red. Next to him he heard Rika choke on air in surprise while trying to talk at the same time. So great was her shock though that she couldn't even bring herself to find coherent words to say. Henry looked more than a little bit surprised himself while Terriermon was making a halfhearted attempt at containing his laughter.

"In fact," John went on. "According to Ryan's and my digivices you two were slated to be this stories primary couple while Henry gets Jeri on the sidelines."

All three Tamers just stood there, stock still, stunned into silence. Terriermon no longer made any pretence at holding back his laughter and cut loose with everything he had from standard giggles to guffaws and snorts as he rolled on the ground. Guilmon just looked on, wondering just what was so funny and why no one else seemed to be laughing with the little dog-bunny. Ryan breathed a silent sigh of relief as he felt a tension slide off his shoulders.

_Thanks John.

* * *

_

"Well, that could have gone better," said Ryan to John with an embarrassed and sympathetic smile on his face.

"What do you mean?" Asked Richoemon, tugging at his partner's shirt. "Rika didn't kill anyone. I call that a good day in my book."

"Except that _your_ book isn't even finished," said Ryan before glancing at each of the Tamers. They didn't look like they were going to come out of their shock any time soon. Motioning to John, the two characters and digimon went off to the side to have a more private chat, stating that they were only going off a short ways and would be back in a few minutes.

"Okay," said Ryan. "So now they know and are trying to cope. What next?"

"I second that," said Tapirmon. "This is going to be a severe blow to their systems. Finding out that they're characters is hard enough, but finding out that they're used as a part of a teenagers life drama? I don't think that will go over all too well for them."

"Let them have it sink in for a bit. In the meantime the four of us have a lot more important things to consider than a character crisis…"

_"Hello!"_ Said Ryan, frowning at the Avatar. "A character crisis _is_ pretty important. Last I checked, things tend to slow down and go bad when people doubt themselves. Shouldn't we do something for them?"

"I don't know. I'm fresh out of ideas right now on where to take this with them unless you've got an idea…"

"Well…I was sort of thinking of something along the lines of a pep-talk…"

_"Don't bother," _said Daisuke. _"V-Mon's doing that all ready. So far Takato and Rika are quite receptive to it. I think that they were already exposed enough to the truth to be able to handle it, what with Takato having been pushed out of the script's purpose for him and Rika having some memories of the Fanfic Domain and the show. Henry looks pretty out of it though…"_

"Great. That's just what we need. Henry confused about his role in the story and about his own existence as well as a convoluted love triangle between him, Jeri, and Takato seeing as how the Gogglehead has departed from the script…"

"Let's not forget about you," reminded John."

"I was trying to but now you've gone and reminded me. Thanks." Ryan frowned. "At any rate, I think that plan A is a bust now that we didn't end up at the time frame that you were aiming towards. How did that happen anyway?"

"In short: It's partly because of Juggernaut's activation. It has an affect on reality's barriers and it was made worse when I was connected to the central core of the domain. Then there's the fact that major occurrences in the digimon show's plot always seem to start up around the same time. Usually episode thirteen or so and the sheer amount of plot development took me by surprise. Anyway, I can't do anything like that again. I've wasted a good amount of energy pulling that stunt, and we both have a limited amount of energy to work with here since we're cut off from our accounts…"

"So new plan unless something comes up where we can try the old one?" Asked Ryan.

"Looks like it. I think that…"

"Think what?" Asked Rika as she, Takato, and Henry wandered on over to them, her expression a lot more settled and relaxed than it had been earlier. She frowned slightly at Ryan but nodded to him in greeting.

"We're working out a new plan and I think that I have an idea," said John, not bothering to ask how they were doing. He'd deal with that as time and situation allowed, but not just yet. "But it's a little complex and involves tracking down a kind of occurrence called _plot holes_. It's a type of distortion and weakness that exists within a story and accounts for inconsistencies and characters that act _Out Of Character_. It's a product of a lazy or forgetful author, and sometimes when a story goes out of canon, though usually when that happens in that case the first two requirements for a plot hole to exist are already met. We might be able to use them as a portal to get around the site and switch between stories and seasons without being noticed. Just don't hold your breath on that happening though."

"Okay…" said Henry, trying to sound like he was going with the flow while wrapping his mind around everything that he had been told so far. "How do we find this…_plot hole?"_

"Usually at a center of action, when an event is being referred to, or bad description. Something like that. We won't have anything serious to go on so far until much later when the Deva, Sandiramon shows up…and please, don't ask anything about him yet. I'll explain later, but it _should_ happen sometime after Rika goes down to the theater with her grandmother. We might get something then. As for actually pinpointing a plot hole, that's a little bit trickier. As an author I can do it but it takes time and I might miss it."

John smiled and looked over at Ryan.

"Fortunately Ryan here picked up a special sight to see them with when he died back in the Fable War."

Ryan tried to ignore the stares that he was getting now.

"Anyway," said John. "For now you guys don't have to worry about anything for a while."

The Tamers looked at each other, an unspoken question in each of their eyes as to whether or not they should believe in any of what they had been told. Finally Rika spoke up.

"On that note I'd better get going. My grandmother is expecting me to be back soon so that we can go see a play, so I guess that I'll see you all later." With that, Rika turned, pausing just long enough to glance at Ryan with a thoughtful gaze, and began to make her way home. Renamon hesitated a moment and looked at John.

"I hope that you keep yourself free during that time," said the vulpine digimon. "I have some things that I would like to discuss with you."

John nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

With a return nod, Renamon vanished. Ryan and John turned to see Henry and Takato still standing with them, Terriermon wiping tears from his eyes from laughing so much and Guilmon…well, he was still as lost as ever. John clasped his hands together.

"Nothing to do now really except to find a place to hang out and wait for the storm front to fall on us."

Takato, who had been lost in deep thought for a moment, brightened up immediately.

"Oh! I just remembered that Guilmon and I have a surprise for everyone. Too bad that Rika walked off but since you guys are still here…" Takato turned to his red saurian of a partner. "Uh…Guilmon? That's your cue."

_And out comes the flag…_thought John to himself. _Yup. Long day just keeps getting longer…

* * *

_

9


	59. Chapter 59

Disclaimer: You cannot claim what you do not own.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 58

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen

**Much Ado about Fiction Revisited:** Part 2

Ryo Akiyama peeked over the top of the boulder that he was crouched behind, while next to him a purple colored dinosaur anxiously waited to hear what he had to report. Ryo frowned as he watched that strange, static-like entity stomp across the land, halting every so often to look around and growl before moving on. There was something about the static entity that seemed strangely familiar to him, and not just because it had attacked him and his partner, Monodromon on a regular basis for the past few weeks, and only occasionally disappearing for no apparent reason. This…whatever it was, felt like a deeper recognition than it should have been, due to the fact that he had no memory of having met this creature before in his life. Ryo lowered his head back behind the boulder and sat down, taking out a few key cards that had proven capable of defeating the monstrosity in past encounters and considered his options.

"Is it still following us?" Asked Monodromon. Ryo nodded.

"Yeah. It still is…whatever it is. It's persistent, I'll give it that much."

"I wish that we knew what it was and what it wanted. This cat and mouse game is getting kind of old."

"Aptly put, Monodromon," said Ryo with a small grin. "But this cat and mouse game is what's keeping us alive at the moment. You still haven't fully recovered from your last encounter with that thing."

There was a moment's pause in the conversation, during which Monodromon rubbed his shoulder, grimacing, as if remembering an old injury.

"It's getting stronger, isn't it?" Asked Monodromon. Ryo frowned again, this time more deeply then before as he glanced at his deck of cards, one gloved thumb rubbing the edge of a card labeled _Goliath_.

"Yeah. Yeah it is," said Ryo in a tone that for once sounded uncertain. "But no matter what, we'll find a way to get rid of that guy."

Ryo peered over the boulder that for now shielded the two of them from the strange creature that continued to hunt for them. It was starting to become transparent now. Disappearing perhaps into another area of the digital world to find the ever elusive Legendary Tamer and Monodromon. Experience had taught Ryo that this was just a ruse to lure them out into the open.  
"We have to," finished Ryo in a much quieter voice as he and his partner sat there, watching the creature depart. All that was left to do now was wait for a bit before moving…

* * *

_Ugh. Did a chimpanzee write this stupid play?_ Thought Rika as she sat next to her grandmother, watching some theatrical performance involving a man searching for a lost puppy. Not exactly the best writing she had ever seen, and certainly by far not the best acting, but it was something for her and her grandmother to do together. Something that she had come to treasure more ever since the incident with IceDevimon, and even further if she traced it back far enough to the point when she had first touched that strange digivice back in the parking garage. That whole ordeal had been very confusing to her, and yet for some reason she felt at ease with it as well, as though she had gotten used to such oddities and strange quirks. Perhaps it had more to do with the fact that she had a digimon in her life when such things weren't considered real in contemporary society, but at the meeting with the others in the park, when John and the _Daisuke _and _V-Mon_ voice had discussed some of the events that led them here and a little bit of their background, heck even _before_ that when John and that Ryan kid had returned to Shinjuku following their sudden and inexplicable disappearance, she felt as though she were long used to the two of them. Even the revelation that Renamon had apparently been in a relationship with John didn't surprise her when Ryan had mentioned it that morning, as it would have at another time. A little bit strange she felt, but then she was used to strange things. Of course, what she had been told earlier was certainly stranger then what she was used to…

As Rika watched the man on stage bemoaning his loss Rika was suddenly struck by a feeling of familiarity that she had grown accustomed to these past few weeks, and she realized, almost instinctively, that she was critiquing the style of the actor and his performance, her mind pointing out things in his stance and voice that didn't fit the situation that he was in. Shortly afterwards when the so-called _puppy_ stepped out into the open and stumbled, making a strange _woof_ noise that couldn't even be called a _woof_ Rika had to bite back a scoff.

_I'm willing to bet that if I read the brochure I'd find that a chimpanzee really __**did**__ write this play,_ thought Rika as she frowned and settled back into her chair, her mind going back to the events from earlier, what she had been told and what she had experienced that did little else but lend credence to the new information that had entered her already chaotic life. It all sounded stupid to her. The idea that her life was a story; that she herself was a fictional character that also had fans writing about her and, if that wasn't bad enough, wrote her into stories featuring her being in love with someone. The revelation that Takato, of all people, was one of those that she was regularly written as being in a relationship with didn't help things much either. If she had to make a choice, given how immature that _Gogglehead_ of a Tamer was, she would rather be with someone else…

_Aren't you, though?_ Chided a small voice inside the girl's head. _Didn't you already make a choice?_

Rika frowned, wondering just where _that_ had come from. But as the voice didn't attempt to say anything else, Rika passed it off as nothing more than her subconscious. Of course, the subconscious, being what it was had a habit of being strange and this was no exception. An image from last night, of her placing a blanket over the sleeping form of Ryan and his partner before turning in flashed through her mind and her frown deepened even more. She didn't know what that had been about. She knew that the kid's partner had previously claimed that she had said that she _liked_ the kid. Strange seeing as how she didn't recall ever seeing either of them before (but they certainly knew her, that much she had gotten pretty quick), and even stranger afterwards that after that fight in the parking garage she had come to feel strangely protective of him; not that it hadn't stopped her from giving him the evil eye when John told her and the others about the _pairing_ business. She had wondered at first if _he_ had anything to do with those _feelings_ and if the story that she was said to be in at the moment was his doing. She felt as though she had been in situations like that before, where others like him were all too happy to say that they had _kissed the Digimon Queen_ or something like that. More than enough reason to make her suspicious and yet…

The image of her placing the blanket over him and watching him for a few minutes came to mind once more, and with it came a strange feeling that pervaded her heart. It was small though. _Very_ small, and that too felt familiar as though it had been there for a while and she had been aware of it. She couldn't quite place what that feeling was exactly, although she supposed that she could attribute it to the _protective_ feeling that she had for the kid.

_I wonder what went on between us that makes me feel that way,_ thought Rika absently as she continued to watch the play. Unconsciously she reached for her belt before remembering that she didn't have his digivice anymore, having returned it to its owner. Regardless, the thing hadn't done a thing for jogging her memories like it had before when she first touched it.

_This is so stupid,_ thought Rika as on the stage an actor tripped over what looked like his own shadow. _I've got more important things to worry about than that kid. I need more information on that other world or whatever it is that I was a part of before…whatever happened to me happened! I need something more concrete than intangible voices and feelings of déjà vu! Because frankly, all this talk about authors and fan fiction is just plain crazy!_

_…_

_So __**why**__ do I keep thinking that it's all right to believe those two nimrods?!_

An image of a brown haired, green-eyed boy appeared in her minds eye.

_Stupid…_ Rika grated before turning her focus, and her musings back to the play.

* * *

"I don't know about this," said Takato to John. "Are you sure that it's okay for me to just hang out here and…uh…_play_ with Kazu, Kenta, Jeri and the rest of my classmates while you and Ryan go off and look for what we discussed earlier?"

Takato looked over his shoulder worriedly at the crowd of children that busied themselves with playing with Guilmon, causing an occasional yelp from the poor red colored dinosaur whenever one of them pinched his scales to see if he really was real and not just a figment of his imagination.

"Ouch! Don't be so grabby!" Guilmon looked over at his partner with a mournful look. "Takatomon…help!"

"Uh…" Takato looked uncertain now. As much as he wanted to show his partner to his friends he knew full well that he had duties that needed attending to, and they were duties that were quite important after all, especially with this new business that had recently come up following the arrival of Mihiramon. Takato turned back to John and the boy smiled warmly.

"Trust me. This is going to be the best place for you to get the drop in on things when and if they run a little hot. I've seen this happen once before…"

Over by where Richoemon and Tapirmon stood, just out of sight of the other children so that they could go without being harassed by them, Ryan spoke up.

"I thought that it was made quite clear that things wouldn't progress the same as in the show."

John looked over at the OC and nodded.

"Well, yeah but only in some spots. An author can pick up a departure in a plot from the original, canon storyline. We have to because we're the cause of it ourselves so it makes sense to know when it happens in someone else's work. I did a scan of today's chapter when I woke up this morning and my digivice reported a ninety percent chance of staying within the realm of canon…with only minor pairing hints that weren't in the original source material."

"I feel like I'm listening to a weather report," muttered Ryan as he ruffled his hair in bemusement. John chuckled.

"Call it what you will. At any rate," John turned back to face Takato. "This scene is good for character development, especially for three of your friends who are there now. They played a pretty important role in your story and in your life the first time. Trust me, it's _very_ important that you stick it out here. Daisuke and V-Mon will be here to let you know when you have to act. Right guys?"

A pause.

"Guys?"

_"What? We gave you the thumbs up," _said Daisuke.

_"Not me,"_ said V-Mon. _"He got my name wrong again…"_

"I should point out that no one can see you," said Takato, scratching his head and wondering how it was that his life took such a strange and sudden twist. With a light laugh, John clapped Takato on the shoulder and turned to join Ryan as they headed out, leaving a very confused boy behind.

"You know," said Ryan. "Unless he gets his memories back soon, Takato's brain is going to hemorrhage from all the weird stuff that we keep telling him. I don't know how much more he can take being told all these things about his life that he doesn't even know about yet…"

John sighed.

"I know. This…is quite a problem. So far the Tamers seem to be ready to come on in and help us which is all very well and good. More so because both Takato and Rika seem to have some recollection about past events, Rika more than Takato since you were absorbed by the script…"

"You would think that Takato's being displaced would have allowed him to remember more," interjected Tapirmon.

"Not exactly," said John as the four of them continued. "Remember, his memories were set back to default when he and the others were brought here, so even though Ryan wound up taking his place Takato wouldn't regain the full extent of his memories. He might as his character develops until he reaches a point of critical mass in character development but that I'm not so sure on."

"Do you think that his accepting all this has to do with the discrepancies in the digimon episodes that he's told us about?" Asked Ryan. John shrugged.

"It's possible. I'd be willing to check them out for the possibility of them having a plot hole later on when the show airs…"

"If I knew that you were so interested in the show I would have dropped by later so that we could make it a date," interrupted a cool, feminine voice with a slight touch of humor from behind the quartet, causing all four characters to freeze in their tracks instantly.

"R-Renamon," said John a little nervously, easily recognizing the voice. Turning to face the vulpine digimon John couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat as he saw a small, almost invisible grin on her face that was just like the one that she always gave him whenever they met, from the moment of their first encounter on up. The one that always made his heart want to melt. Feeling a goofy grin beginning to grow on his face, John rubbed the back of his head. "Uh…what brings you hear?"

_And what was that bit about a date?_ A part of him asked, wondering if he was dreaming. _I didn't think that we had resumed that aspect of our relationship after the 'talk' that we had this morning. I mean we didn't even get to share memories at that time…_

"I was just wondering if we could finish that _conversation_ that we had earlier at Rika's house," said Renamon, causing John to raise an eyebrow and wonder if she had read his mind (which he certainly wouldn't have put past her if she was playing with his mind right now). "I did tell you to keep yourself available while Rika was with her grandmother…"

A light bulb clicked on upstairs and John nodded.

"Ah! That's right. Sorry, I've…I mean…that is…uh…" John immediately began stammering and turning red in the face as Renamon titled her head to one side, her tail swishing behind her slowly, indicating curiosity and a hint of confusion; and amusement on top of that, but mostly curiosity. Ryan, Tapirmon, and Richoemon snickered at the author.

"Sheesh. _God of stories and imagination_," chided Tapirmon as he tried to cover his laughter with his elephant-like feet. "You guys carry a lot of weight and power in the Fanfic Domain and yet when it comes to stuff like this you freeze up. Makes me wonder what the lady ever saw in you."

John's shoulders sagged and he glowered at his partner.

"You're horrible, you know that?"

Her grin widening, but still unnoticeable (to all but John had he been looking) Renamon stepped towards the Avatar and placed a paw on his shoulder.

"Perhaps we should take this to somewhere more private," she said, and without warning the two of them vanished into thin air. Ryan and Richoemon blinked.

"Uh…yeah. Don't worry about us," said Richoemon to no one in particular. "We'll…um…continue looking for plot holes on our own. No biggie."

Ryan turned to look at Tapirmon, one eyebrow raised.

"Was she always that way with him when she had her memories?"

Tapirmon chuckled.

"Well, she used to be more subtle about it…"

* * *

Mists began to form within the depths of the subway tunnel, and a long, serpentine form began to take shape within it. A loud hiss resounded upon the air as the dark creature slithered forward out of the darkness, turning its gaze towards two humans, one of them plainly drunk (or perhaps sick, the creature couldn't tell for sure) as they stumbled over each other immediately upon seeing the horrific sight that emerged from the dark tunnel. Cackling to itself the creature moved on and entered yet another tunnel thinking about the humans that it had been sent to destroy.

_You may have defeated Mihiramon, but now you swim with the more dangerous creatures of the deep…_

It was almost poetic that when the snake Deva known as Sandiramon disappeared into the next tunnel he encountered something that was far more dangerous than he could ever hope to be. When he next emerged the serpent soldier of the Southern Guardian was transformed…

* * *

6 


	60. Chapter 60

Disclaimer: All characters and ideas are copyrighted by their respective owners.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 59

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen

**Much Ado About Fiction Revisited:** Part 3

Renamon phased into view on top of a building with the boy, John, clasped firmly in her arms, the Avatar blushing deeply at their close proximity. Feeling the heat emanating from his face, Renamon chuckled in bemusement and let the boy go, causing him to stumble slightly, but he held his balance as he turned around to fully face the vulpine digimon.

"So…uh…well, we're here," stammered John as his eyes met Renamon's cerulean depths. One hand fidgeted at his side, aching to rub the back of his head nervously. John cursed himself silently and stilled the appendage. "What did you want to talk about?"

Renamon looked at John fully in his eyes, her gaze not once betraying a single emotion that he could read.

_Of course, things were like that even when she was showing affection, _thought John as he stood his ground. _Except for maybe once or twice during the Fable War…_

"I thought," said Renamon, her voice calm, cool, and measured. "That we could have something to eat while we talked."

Renamon indicated a direction to her left with a nod of her head. Curious, John followed it, one eyebrow raised. A second later his eyes went bug wide in surprise, and the blush on his face returned threefold as he realized what Renamon was talking about. Sitting on the rooftop where they stood was a red-checkered blanket with various foodstuffs, and what looked to be a picnic basket resting on top of it. Plates, dishes, and eating utensils adorned the area around the blanket, and John had to wonder what sort of store Renamon had to rob just to get ones like what he was seeing. Dragons, plants, and various Japanese images and symbols decorated the surface of the plates, many of which would have made him gasp in awe if it weren't for the fact that a good many of those plates were covered by rather large amounts of food…like the one that looked like a turkey that threatened to spill over the plate that it was sitting on, and causing John to wonder at the validity of the sources that the author had used for Japanese cuisine (or if they were just being lazy and used generic, western menus). John took another glance at the picnic basket that sat in the middle of the feast that had apparently been laid out for the two of them to consume. It _really_ didn't look all that big enough to fit all that food and plates inside of it…

_Funny,_ thought John as a massive sweatdrop ran down the back of his head. _I don't recall humor being in the genre of this story. I'll have to take another look at my digivices analysis…_

"Well? How is it?" Asked Renamon in a plainly amused voice, a small, almost invisible grin gracing her features. John started as her voice brought him crashing back down to reality.

"Gah! Uh…um…" John blinked as he looked the feat over once more, his eyes bulging in his sockets, and they were only getting wider.

_Good grief…__**where'd**__ she get that rice wine?_ The author thought deliriously. And then another thought came to mind a second later as he began linking ideas in his head. _Hold on…__**why'd**__ she bring __**rice wine?**_

"It's…whoa…I mean…_whoa…_" John blinked once again and felt his balance become a little precarious now as he let the full weight of what he was seeing settle squarely in his brain. Rubbing the back of his head nervously, John struggled to find the appropriate words to describe what he thought of Renamon's _gesture._ If that's what it was. The heat on his face increased its intensity even more, until John began to fear that his nose would burst like a volcano like in a fair number of anime shows that he had seen in his time.

_That would be pretty bad at a time like this…it'd almost be like how we first met though…_

John felt yet another, massive sweatdrop make its way down the back of his head, hanging heavily on his hair like some bloated balloon. Seeing it, Renamon raised an eyebrow and reached out towards it with one claw…

_Pop!_

John had to control his breathing from the unexpected noise. Still, that didn't stop him from jumping _just_ a little at the surprise.

_Okay…this is starting to get just a __**little**__ too ridiculous now. Reminds me of all those stories that I heard from other authors during the Awakening…_

"It's…it looks great Renamon," replied John finally as he turned to look at the kitsune digimon, a smile on his face. "But…why?"

Renamon smiled slightly.

"Just a little something that Rika's grandmother suggested to me before I went looking for you. I thought that it sounded like a good idea, so…"

John nodded, feeling a little dumbfounded now.

"Seiko, huh? Weird. This is just what she suggested before we went out on our first date in the Fanfic Domain. Weird. I'm going to have to check her character stats again to see if she was really mind wiped."

"If you feel that it's necessary," said Renamon in a strangely joking tone as her tail moved gracefully behind her.

_Is she being OOC with me? Nah. She couldn't be, at least not after the last time that sort of thing happened. The last time she was like that was when she did that brief stint at that __**Deviation of Art**__ site. Renamon fan art was quite popular then too. I had a heck of a time trying to get her back to normal and keep her from seducing me at the same time. That time she approached me wearing…actually…I don't __**want**__ to remember __**that**__ day. That was…kinda disturbing. Put a strain on our relationship for a few weeks after that mess ended. Rika was pretty perturbed about the whole thing too as I recall…_

While John busied himself with that train of thought Renamon walked over to the picnic blanket and sat down, picking up a wine glass along with the bottle of Sake and poured some of the liquid in before glancing up at John, who just stood there staring blankly.

"Well?" The vulpine prompted with a raised eyebrow, azure eyes sparkling in amusement. "Aren't you going to join me?"

_Okay! Now I __**know**__ she's being OOC!_

"Um…Renamon?" Asked John as he sat down next to her and gratefully accepted the wine. He had the distinct feeling that he was going to need it. Too bad that fictional alcohol didn't affect him one jot…never mind the fact that he was also underage, but as stated, it was only fictional. "Are you feeling all right? You're acting sort of…_odd."_

John swallowed inaudibly, hoping that she didn't take that the wrong way.

Renamon poured herself a glass of the rice wine and frowned, one claw tapping at the glass absentmindedly as she collected her thoughts.

"I…can't say. You said that we were lovers earlier," Renamon paused to note the increase in a certain red discoloration on John's face as she said that. She smiled lightly at it before continuing. "And I had hoped that by doing this I could remember something about you, about what we shared but so far I can't recall a single thing. And yet…for some reason I feel as if I _do_ trust you, and can take your word for the things that you tell me." Renamon narrowed her eyes at the boy, and John could immediately tell that she was suspecting him of foul play, much like Rika did with Ryan earlier that morning. John met the vixen's gaze without flinching, and opened up the link between the two of them, letting his thoughts and feelings flow to her freely and without hesitation. Renamon's eyes widened slightly as she felt the connection between them activate. An image entered her mind and she studied it for a moment before fixing her eyes on John once more. The boy nodded with a small smile on his face.

"Care to take a walk down memory lane?" He asked, raising an open hand to the vulpine digimon. Renamon looked at the outstretched hand for a moment before raising her own and accepting his carefully.

The rest, as they say, is history.

* * *

Henry and Takato sat on the edge of the steps that led to Guilmon's concrete hut, watching Terriermon and Guilmon play with Jeri, Kazu, Kenta, and a few other students from Takato's class. The two boys looked sullenly at the figure of Jeri Katou especially, each of them having their own set of thoughts running through their minds.

"They don't know," said Takato softly to himself. Henry jerked his gaze away from the scene of Jeri _woofing_ at Guilmon with her sock puppet and looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow.

"Know what?" Asked the half-Chinese Tamer, although he felt that he already knew the answer to that question.

"About…_everything; _that we're really just fictional characters and that we're not real. We're just…I don't know what we are, Henry. That John guy seemed to make it clear that we are pretty real but…I don't know. But then, I thought digimon were supposed to be fictional, and just a few weeks ago I was proven wrong." Takato's eyes lowered as he thought that over for a second. "But then, they still are fictional in the end. Not real; just fiction that was made real in a story. Man that sounds weird even hearing myself say it like that. I don't know. What do you think Henry?"

Henry shook his head.

"I don't know what to think, Takato."

_"Dudes,"_ spoke up Daisuke's voice from out of thin air. _"Why are you guys so glum about all this? It's not like it's really that bad being fictional. I mean, just think of all the cool stories that we get to be in, all the adoring fans, and the ability to do the kind of things that you've only dreamed about, like pulling off those moves that made Jackie Chan famous…"_

V-Mon could be heard snorting.

_"You've been reading more of that _'Gary Stu and the Art of Uber'_ again haven't you?"_

_"Hey! That book is good! I've been putting its teachings to good use in that fic I was in before this mess started. I'm currently up to the chapter that says _'how to take a shot in the leg/shoulder and still be able to fight like Superman'._ I've got to say, that chapter's especially good for lone-wolf type characters when you're trying to impress a girl you like. You could use a few pointers the next time you try hooking up with Gatomon…"_

Henry and Takato just stared dumbly at thin air before exchanging glances.

"You know," began Takato. "Back before I got Guilmon, I didn't think that my life would get this weird. Or this complicated. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I was supposed to fall in love with Rika in this story…"

"I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that I'm even having this conversation," said Henry, shaking his head in confusion and exasperation. "But it would explain a lot now that I think about it, as impossible as it all sounds…"

Takato chuckled. "You're telling me. All we need now is a female Lopmon to show up and Terriermon to fall in love with her and then the strangeness will be complete."

Takato and Henry shared a light laugh at that until Daisuke interrupted them.

_"Well, a female Lopmon __**does**__ show up…"_

That shut the two boys up as the color drained from their faces.

_"Maybe that was a bad idea to tell them Daisuke," _said V-Mon quietly.

_"Hey, they're going to find out sooner or later, right?"_

"I'm not sure how much more I can take of this," said Henry as he buried his face in his hands.

"Hey Henry. You okay?" Asked Takato.

"No, I'm _not_ okay, Takato," said Henry as he raised his face out of his hands. "My whole world's just been turned upside down, and…and the worst part of it all is…"

Henry rested his gray colored eyes on a certain brown haired girl wearing a sock puppet on her one hand, and he felt his heart cry out in pain. Takato saw this and nodded.

"I know how you feel Henry. I really do. I mean, it wasn't all that long ago that…well, when I first saw Rika I guess I felt something for her. Still do I guess but for some reason it's…just not the same. And now whenever I look at Jeri I feel like there's something important that's missing, and I can't figure out what it is. Except, sometimes I feel that I do know what it is, but that something is just outside of my reach. And odds are, what I feel is probably what you're feeling now."

As one, the two boys sighed.

"Guess we each have our own issues, don't we?" Asked Henry. Takato nodded, and the two boys shared a moment of silence that Daisuke and V-Mon respected. After a few moments, Takato spoke.

"The Digidestined left File Island this morning," said Takato.

"M-hm," said Henry, knowing where Takato was going with this and why. "Did they do anything different?"

"Not really," said Takato. "But one of the new characters knows Gennai really well…"

_"Heh," _chuckled Daisuke. _"That's Kaio for ya."_

Henry raised an eyebrow at this, while a short ways off, Guilmon unleashed his fierce and dreaded _Snot Blaster_ attack on the poor, hapless kids he was chasing.

* * *

"Nnnngh…"

"Uh oh…"

_CRACK!_

"Owwww…"

Richoemon blinked at his partner as he held his head against the wall for a few seconds, groaning softly for a few seconds as he collected himself.

"Feel better now?" Asked Tapirmon as he hovered over the ground on the clouds that made up his legs.

"My head hurts," grumbled Ryan as he pulled away from the wall and massaged his temples. "But at least that stupid voice stopped talking."

"Well, you warned it that you'd do that if it didn't stop talking about Rika," said Richoemon, crossing his arms and fixing his partner with a proud expression. Ryan however didn't look like he had any reason to be proud about anything at the moment.

_"Heh, heh," _chuckled an all too familiar voice inside Ryan's mind, causing the boy to groan once more and clutch the sides of his skull desperately as he fell down to his knees, his eyes clenched tightly shut. _"You'll have to try a lot harder to get rid of me…"_

"I could really use some aspirin right now," mumbled Ryan as he got back up to his feet, feeling a tad bit unsteady as he struggled to ignore the voice that continued to torment him. Tapirmon and Richoemon exchanged glances.

_"Why do you resist so much?"_ Asked the voice that John had defined as the _inner-voice_ phenomenon that plagued so many romance stories since long before he was even designed. _"All it takes is to say three simple words, one kiss, one date followed by several more after that and you won't have me floating around in your head anymore."_

Ryan groaned inwardly as he and the two digimon he was currently traveling with began to walk down a flight of stairs and into a subway tunnel. The voice in his head continued to rattle on insistently to him, making pointed comments as to why he should like the red headed Tamer known as Rika, using some of his own memories to show that she is interested in him. Images flashed in Ryan's mind and he stopped in the tunnel at the edge of the platform, planting his hands against his eyes as he tried to stop the images. Nonetheless, they came despite his protests to the contrary.

_Rika…their first encounter. He had made a stupid comment to her. Rather innocent actually since he didn't know her that well, but she had been recovering from a bad case of OOCness, and had been rather touchy that day. He had found himself on the ground within seconds, a bruise already developing on his cheek. And she had looked at him so angrily, until she began to calm down and realize what had happened. The softening of her face as she looked at him, and then she helped him up…_

_Stop…_

_Rika…the times that they worked together. He had been leery of the idea after their disastrous first encounter, something that would continue to affect him as the months came and went. She didn't let that stop her from working with him, or developing a jesting type attitude towards him that was strangely akin to how she acted towards Ryo during the last few episodes of her season. Some months later, as he was leaving to go home he caught her smiling at him. Something about that smile…_

_Stop please…_

_The Fable War, when he and the others crashed in on the story that Rika was in. The author, Dichotomy of the Heart was furious with them but Rika had blown him off and dragged Ryan to her home by the ear, with the others watching like they had just stepped into a parallel universe. And then, her reaction to his dying…_

_Oh God…no more! Please…_

_The boat. Rika was asking him some questions about how he had felt when he was dead. And then, before he knew it, she had taken his hand into hers, telling him that he mattered to her…and his own shame at not being able to return her feelings…_

Ryan felt like he was about to scream. Rika's image dominated his mind at that very moment, forcing him to look into the depths of her violet eyes. He was losing it. Slowly, surely, he was going to lose his mind, and there was nothing that he could do about it. The image of Rika wouldn't leave him, and the voice refused to let him alone either or give him anything even remotely resembling a peace of mind. It goaded at him, practically taunted him to the point where he could no longer hear his own thoughts. The pressure built up…

Suddenly, a flash of white obliterated the image of Rika from his mind, and words formed in front of his eyes. Stumbling backwards in surprise, Ryan blinked, trying to get a grasp on what it was that he was seeing, and then the words vanished, leaving him breathing heavily, but his mind was finally silent.

_Thank you…_

"Hi!"

Ryan turned in the direction of the voice that hailed him, and was surprised to see Calumon flying towards him, a wide, happy smile on his face. At least, as wide as he could get considering the fact that Calumon's mouth was much, _much_ smaller then the big eyes that made up more than half the creampuff's face. How it was that Calumon could eat without poking himself in the eye with a piece of bread was something that Ryan often wondered about.

"Calumon!" Exclaimed Ryan, Richoeon, and Tapirmon with smiles on their faces as the little In-training landed in front of them.

"Hey guys! Wow, I didn't know that you were in this story too. Wanna play?"

"Yeah," began Ryan as he got down to one knee in front of Calumon so that they were more level. "We're here too and…wait! Hold on." Ryan frowned as he processed what Calumon said. "Calumon…you _know_ that we're in a story?"

Calumon tilted his head to one side and smiled.

"Of course we are, silly. Where else would we be? I'm supposed to help Renamon digivolve when that evil snake comes around."

"Evil sna…oh. Deva." Ryan looked at his companions with a raised eyebrow before turning back to look at Calumon, utterly perplexed by the situation now. "So…you know who we are…" Ryan pointed to himself and his two companions. Calumon giggled and nodded.

"Ryan, Richoemon, and Tapirmon. Wow! I love this name guessing game! Kind of reminds me of charades. You guys chose easy ones…"

The three characters sighed.

"Someone want to explain _this_ one to me?" Asked Ryan in exasperation.

"Which part?" Asked Tapirmon. "The one where Calumon berated us for playing bad at charades, or the one where Calumon for some plainly unidentifiable reason is able to remember things when the other main characters don't?"

"The latter," said Ryan.

Behind them, the sound of a giggling voice reached their ears.

"He remembers because there wasn't a reason to make him forget. I offered him a part in another story and he went along with it. Thought that it was a game honestly, which doesn't really surprise me but hey, whatever works right. Certainly made things easier for me…"

As one, the four characters turned in the direction that the voice was coming from, and Ryan, Tapirmon, and Richoemon's eyes widened in surprise at what they found. Standing at the bottom of the flight of stairs that they had just come down was the short, long-eared form of a digimon that they were all too familiar with. Terriermon…

_Or is it?_ Wondered Ryan as he narrowed his eyes at the diminutive troublemaker. There was something about him that didn't _feel _right. Ryan looked the little dog bunny over for a few seconds before he realized what the creature in front of them really was.

"Wha…? You're… not Terriermon! You're…" Ryan frowned. "What are you?"

_Terriermon_ giggled and held one paw up to his mouth while he held the other behind his back.

"So, you've caught onto me already huh? That sure was fast. But I guess that you have your _ghost sight_ to thank for that. You're right though. I'm not Terriermon. I'm a muse who has taken his form and personality. As for why I'm here…well, that question is about to be answered in…oh, three, two, one…"

Suddenly a fog enveloped the subway tunnel, catching Ryan and his companions by surprise. A hiss reached their ears, and realizing what was just about to happen the four characters dashed for the exit…

…Only to crash into a solid wall of air as soon as they reached it and collapse to the ground in a heap. _Terriermon_ chuckled and looked at his little fingers as if he were considering seeing a manicurist.

"Sorry," the little dog bunny said. "No one's going anywhere. I can't let anyone interfere with the plot you know, and no one's jumping ship until it's ended properly. If you weren't so integral to the central point of the plot I'd let you go, but…"

Ryan just looked incredulously at the rabbit.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me…!"

_"OC!"_ Shouted a loud, venomous voice that grabbed everyone's attention. Turning, Ryan and his companions saw the large, serpentine figure of Sandiramon as it loomed over them. Ryan noted to his dismay that this version of Sandiramon was black and gray in color, just like Mihiramon had been not too long ago.

_Oh great. _Thought Ryan as he pulled out his digivice and got to his feet. _Don't tell me that this guy's author possessed…_

_"Oh he is,"_ commented the inner voice with a wry laugh._ "I can sense Demon Dayz in him. Heh. Don't mess up when you're fighting him. You wouldn't want to look bad for Rika when she comes in to help now would you?"_

_If I want commentary from the peanuts gallery I'll ask for it,_ growled Ryan mentally as he raised his digivice. Sandiramon reared back just as soon as the digivice began to glow.

"DIGI-ARMOR ENERGIZE!" Ryan shouted as his digivice burst into light.

**"Venom Axe!"

* * *

**

9


	61. Chapter 61

Disclaimer: Refer to _The Nolaquen Zone,_ chapters 5-12 for more information. And I don't own that either by the way.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 60

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen

**Much Ado About Fiction Revisited: **Part 4

Renamon smiled warmly as images from John's memories washed over her, cascading through her mind like a gentle downpour of rain upon her fur. Faces, places…it all seemed rather strange to the kitsune from her point of view, but no longer was there any denying that she _knew _all of them. Characters, authors, places like _The Characters Lounge_, author mansions, and there were all the moments that Renamon shared with John, the author who's hand she held carefully in one paw. And with each of the memories that filled her mind, _restoring _her, Renamon felt a sense of completion flowing through her heart, as though she had been missing something integral to her and was now being given a glimpse of what that was. And from the familiarity that she was feeling with each memory that John showed her she knew precisely what it was that she…

Suddenly the memories winked out and the flow of them from John to her via the link that she had made between the vanished abruptly. Renamon's eyes widening in surprise the vulpine turned to John just in time to see him collapse forward, gasping heavily as the wine glass that he had been holding fell to the ground, spilling its contents all over the picnic blanket. Concern rising in her heart, Renamon started to reach out towards the author avatar…

…Only to stop when she saw John's form fade in and out of view.

_Wha…?_

"John!" Exclaimed Renamon, her gloved paws breaking free from their hesitation and surged forward to grab the boy by the arms, only to receive yet another shock as she passed _through_ him.

_What __**is **__going on here?_ Thought Renamon bewilderedly as she withdrew, staring at John with eyes that was at first wide and then narrowed to slits._ What is wrong with him?!_

John's body flickered once as he took a shuddering breath and then stabilized back to normal. Seeing this Renamon reached out once more and took hold of the boy, feeling his body shaking, as he took great gulps of air into his lungs. Pulling him up a bit so that they were more at eye level, Renamon looked into John's eyes, her own full of worry and concern.

"John," she said in a tone that was far softer then she was used to using with people, the only exception being her partner, Rika and her family. "Are you all right?"

John took a shaky breath as he returned Renamon's gaze and then shook his head, knowing that it wouldn't do any good to lie to Renamon. Link aside, she was highly perceptive and didn't take to well to deception even if it was being done for her own benefit. Not that he would have done so anyway. As much as he hated the idea of making Renamon worried, he hated the idea of lying to her even more and had never done so for as long as they had been together.

He saw no reason why now should be any different.

"No Renamon…I'm not all right. I can't say that I'm surprised that I'm feeling this way. It's been happening on and off ever since Ryan, Richoemon, Tapirmon, and I got here, only this time it was much worse." John bit down on his lip, feeling that he should refrain from telling Renamon that he had been expecting what had just happened to him to occur much sooner then this. She would sense that he was holding something back from her, but he felt in his heart that she would understand given the circumstances. There was such a thing that having too much information, especially information that pertained to someone close to you, could be distracting at a critical moment.

_Maybe I've just been reading that in too many stories,_ thought John sarcastically.

"What was it that just happened?" Asked Renamon, her gaze not wavering from John's eyes.

"It's got to do with why Ryan and I disappeared. I was trying to get us to a more favorable time frame so that we could enter the digital world. Technically we were supposed to show up a _lot_ later then now but that got messed up. Cost me a lot of energy in the process, and because Ryan and I are cut off from our accounts on the Fanfic Domain…" John paused a moment to build up the dramatic tension. "…Essentially we're living on borrowed time."

Renamon's eyes narrowed as she processed that bit of information, but before she could open her mouth to ask in detail what it was that John meant the vulpine became ridged as she heard her partner call out to her through the mental link that they shared and with a quick, apologetic look at John, vanished to give the aid that Rika so direly needed. At almost the exact same moment, John's digivice began beeping in alarm, signaling the arrival of an incoming _Wild One._ Pulling out his digivice John frowned at the screen as he switched over to his partner's point of view, checking to see if Tapirmon, Ryan and Richoemon were already in the vicinity.

_The timing's just about right,_ thought John as the halo circle materialized above the digivice's screen. _Could it be…? Is…?_

All of John's thoughts immediately ground to a halt when the halo circle revealed a massive, black and gray colored serpent taking up the entire screen. And the expression on its face did not indicate that it was at all there just to say _hi._

_Shit,_ thought John as he lowered his digivice and glowered around him. _Double shit. Renamon left me up here without any easy way to get down…

* * *

_

Ryan dodged to the side as Calumon leapt out of his hands, narrowly missing getting his head separated from his body as the author possessed Sandiramon fired a massive, burning pike axe at him. The axe crashed into the wall behind the brown haired boy, its fiery blade biting deep into the concrete and sending a spider web of cracks crawling up towards the ceiling. The light in Ryan's digivice died down as he raced over towards one of the nearby pillars, trying to find some place of safety so as to stay out of the way until Talonmon, his partner's Armor evolved form…

_Hold the phone,_ thought Ryan as he threw a glance over his shoulder. _Something's not right here._

"Uh…Ryan?" Asked Richoemon as he stared down at his body, wondering why he hadn't Armor Digivolved. "You mind explaining to me why…?"

"Never mind that!" Exclaimed Tapirmon from his place next to the orange, tiger-striped dinosaur. "Just _move!"_

Richoemon grunted in surprise as Tapirmon shoved him to the side, both of them missing another round of Sandiramon's Venom Axe attack.

"Jeez," muttered the Terriermon double from over on the sidelines with a critical eye. "You guys aren't exactly performing up to snuff like I hoped you would. Guess removing that digi-egg was a mistake but the original script didn't have that in there to begin with. Hmmm…maybe a little editing _is_ in order here. Should have done that to begin with as soon as I saw that Takato had been bumped off from the script and _this_ kid took his place…"

"Leave the script as it is," hissed _Sandiramon_ as he glared at the rabbit-dog digimon. "I will suffer _no more _alterations to the script. _This_ OC shouldn't even be a part of it! He shouldn't even be here for that matter, and now he has taken a place in the story that wasn't even his to take…"

Ryan stepped out from behind the pillar that he had ran to and rushed over to where Richoemon and Tapirmon were lying on the ground and helped the duo get back up before looking at Sandiramon. The OC glowered at the serpent Deva.

"You know, this wasn't my idea, and if it wasn't for the fact that I'd end up dying just by returning the script aura back to Takato I'd do that…"

_"Sure…" _piped up a voice from within Ryan's mind with a tone of supreme smugness. Ryan ignored it.

"Doesn't matter what your intentions were," hissed Sandiramon as he returned his attention. "You're here now, meddling with matters that you shouldn't be meddling in…"

"Same could be said about you," growled Ryan, thinking back on how the Tamers were altered just so that they would be forced into the roles that these authors wanted. There was something about it that seemed worse then any story that he had heard about from the days of the Awakening. At least then, the authors didn't know that the characters were _alive_.

"I did not come here to be judged by one such as you," spat Sandiramon venomously. "_Least of all_ by one such as you. An _OC_ that doesn't even have the right to exist or even be a part of the Tamer's story. I shall take great pleasure in removing you from the plotline and restoring it to how it should be…"

"Whoa!" Exclaimed _Terriermon_ from over by the subway's exit. Stepping forward, the little digimon fixed the author possessed Deva with a fearsome look. "Hold on there guys! Demon Dayz; first off, you don't have custody of this story, Blade of Cloud and Neo III do, and Neo III tends to be the one who does most of the writing while Blade's the Beta Reader. When none of them are around I'm in charge. You can't just go and change things just because you want to, and wasn't it _you_ who told me once that stories will often develop as they will regardless of the desires of the actual writer?"

The Sandiramon that _Terriermon_ had identified as the author known as Demon Dayz laughed lightly, its sound sending a chill down Ryan and the digimon's collective spines.

"Except that it was Neo III who allowed me to handle this stories development while he dealt with another problem personally, hence _I'm _in charge. As for the OC…what you say is true about how a story will grow, but it is also dependent on the desires of the authors even _if_ it develops regardless of what the writer cares about. This character… This _OC…_he does not belong here. I don't know how he was able to alter the script from its original, intended purpose, but the stain must be corrected. Therefore, he must be removed. He must be _deleted._"

_Terriermon_ took a step forwards, shaking his head slightly.

"Sorry boss, but I can't let you do that. This is how the story ran, and it did that naturally otherwise the script would have spat Ryan out and kept Takatomon in his place. I don't know why the OC became a part of the script, but I _do_ know that it's not smart to interfere with how the script is running. You can ruin a good story that way…"

_Sandiramon_ stared at the little creature, his face a portrait of disgust.

"You _dare_ dispute me! Me, an _author!_ You're just a Muse! You have no right…!"

"I have every right," said the Terriermon calmly. "That was the unspoken and unwritten agreement between author and muse and you know that better then anyone too. If it weren't for us you'd never be able to write your stories even though they're darker then I'd like. And why are you getting all bent out of shape for anyway? Aren't you a Henrika supporter?"

With a dark hiss _Sandiramon_ lashed out, spitting another _Venom Axe_ aimed right at Ryan at a speed that left no time to dodge the oncoming projectile. Ryan felt his body tense as he prepared to try anyway, his eyes closing as he did so.

The last thing he felt was the feeling of the wall slamming into his back as he was pushed backwards…

* * *

Rika stood on the platform with her grandmother, waiting for the train to arrive. Her grandmother was currently chatting on the phone with someone. She didn't know who it was really as she hadn't been paying attention, too lost in her own thoughts to care. She looked out at the train rails, a neutral expression on her face that belied the turmoil of thoughts and emotions that she was feeling at the moment. She had gone repeatedly through everything that she had learned, wanting to laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all but finding herself unable to do so, and this frustrated her. 

_This is stupid,_ thought Rika, berating herself for the thoughts that chased themselves around in her mind as though they were in a circular argument; one side wanting to deny what she had learned but utterly defeated by the sense of surety that she felt about the validity of it all. Fan fiction…the very notion of her being a fictional character that existed because of the dreams and beliefs of a bunch of hardcore fans of a TV show…it seemed impossible. But she had experienced enough, could even say that she _remembered _enough to believe it.

_So why does this still bother me?_ Wondered Rika as she raised her eyes to look at the wall across from her, as though by staring at it she could at least make something wither and disappear. _It can't be just because the idea sounds weird. Is it because the idea feels so right to me, that I don't feel like questioning it, that's got me all up in arms over it? After what happened in the parking garage I began predicting things. I knew that it was Impmon that had besmirched Guilmon's name to Takato. I knew that it was IceDevimon that was stalking me and I knew that Dino-boy and Rabbitmon would end up getting frozen in their first attack on that frozen freak. And the day that Mihiramon first appeared…I knew about that too. So what __**is**__ the deal?_

The image of the now, apparently long familiar face of a brown haired, green-eyed boy once again infiltrated her minds eye and Rika frowned and looked down at the rails, one hand gripped into an irritable fist. Memories of her first encounter with Ryan and his partner, followed much later on by John's explanations of the world of fanfiction and of _pairings_ flew through her mind and it was right there that the red haired Tamer found her answer. Not for the first time did Rika suspect the kid of foul play, though she hadn't consciously thought it herself when she first learned about fanfiction couplings and was more reflexive then anything else. But given the circumstances, and the fact that she was bit-by-bit, much to her own horror, realizing that she _did_ feel something for the kid…or maybe she was just fooling herself. Mental tricks brought about by what Ryan's partner, Richoemon had said when she first confronted them. But now that she thought about it, why _did_ she divert her original plan away from attacking Takato and Guilmon. The reading on her D-Arc had clearly indicated that Guilmon was by far the stronger of the two digimon and she was always willing to take on a challenge anyway, so why? What inner-machinations changed her mind to go after a weaker target?

Knowing that authors were fully capable of altering the minds of people like her (after all, wasn't she proof of that?), so wasn't it possible that everything that she was experiencing, her predictions, her _feelings,_ was also a product of another sick author who wanted a pairing between herself and some OC? Or worse yet, an author that had wanted a character that looked like them for her to be…?

_Self-insertion…_ The word whispered in Rika's mind like a ghost from the past, and Rika's body stiffened at it, feeling an odd sense of liberation at just the way it sounded, remembering that John had used the term to describe himself as such. All of a sudden certainty stole over the fiery Tamer's heart and her doubts were blown away like so much smoke on the wind, leaving not a shadow behind. At that moment, memories came unbidden to her, and she felt her mouth draw up into a small smile as they flowed through her mind.

_Her first meeting with Ryan…outside of the story that they worked on together that is. She had been at the Character's Lounge restaurant trying to kill some time while recovering from a bad case of OOCness. Ryan had walked in looking for a rest stop and found her there, and engaged her in conversation. They had been relatively friendly with each other that day, and she had been able to forget about her OOCness…at least up until Ryan had inadvertently put his foot in his mouth and she punched him for it. It was an accident on his part, as he didn't know her all that well (having admitted to having no familiarity with digimon or anything even remotely associated with it, a rarity among OC's created for the fandom) and she should have been more understanding. She couldn't help but feel a little bad for him that day… _

_The pain that she felt when she found out about Ryan having died saving a fellow OC from BlackWarGreymon's attack. That had hurt her…more then she had thought it would, and in a way it had contributed to her actions later on during the Fable War, at the Second Battle of Odaiba. She, as Sakuyamon had protected Ryan from one of Machinedramon's stray Giga Cannon blasts, and was then reminded that she had essentially risked her life to protect someone who was already dead…little more then a ghost in fact. He had jokingly said that he was going to nominate her for "the most Goggleheaded move of the year" award and for that she made sure that the next Giga Cannon blast that came his way hit him. But she didn't stop being concerned about his well being, and had felt a little anger towards Dean when he informed her that because he wasn't Ryan's creator he couldn't bring him back to life all the way._

_She was on a boat. The sun was setting and the sounds of laughter echoed up from down within the depths of the boat. She was leaning on the railing next to Ryan, saying something to him that made her feel uncomfortable. And then, much to her own surprise she reached out and took his hand into her own. She didn't let go once, not even when some unseen force pulled up the boat that they were on and lightning struck them and began to pull them up into the air, towards the swirling vortex of stormy clouds that hung above them. In fact, her grip had tightened, as though struggling to make sure that no matter what, she did not lose him again…_

Rika blinked her eyes, realizing that tears had formed in them. Wiping at them irritably Rika looked over to a pair of girls in uniforms that were also standing on the platform, talking to each other animatedly. For a moment Rika stared at them as the last of the memories that she had been shown, _this _time (she wagered that she had plenty more where those had come from) left her. She wondered what it was about those two girls that held her attention. It wasn't like they were anything special, just a couple of background characters that were supposed to be ogling over Calumon right about now…

_Hang on,_ thought Rika, as she finally put two and two together, not questioning where the thought had come from, having long accepted the predictions that she got when they came._ Where __**is**__ Calumon? Isn't he supposed to be there right now?_

The beeping of Rika's D-Arc jarred the girl's attention away from her thoughts on the whereabouts of the In-training creampuff of a digimon. Bringing it out, Rika's eyes narrowed as she analyzed the readouts on the screen.

_There's a digimon nearby,_ thought Rika. _And it's __**big**__…_

Rika peered down towards the tunnel to her left where the signal was coming from before glancing back down at her digivice. The signal was being highly erratic for some reason, and it didn't look like it was coming her way either, but…well, to quote one of her favorite catchphrases from her early days as a Tamer, a fight was a fight and she had a duty to the city after all, however unofficial and fictional that duty was.

_Grandma's really not going to like this,_ thought Rika to herself reaching out with her mind to find her mental link to her vulpine partner.

_RENAMON!

* * *

_

Ryan slowly opened his eyes, mentally checking himself for the best-known sensations that accompany severe injuries, or any from the faint memories that he had that came with being dead.

_Well…I'm not dead,_ thought Ryan as he looked at the massive pike axe that appeared to be sticking straight out of him. _But I more then a little curious as to why my body has decided to rule out severe pain from the equation. Hmmm…maybe I'm in shock._

Ryan took a moment to take a closer examination of himself, realizing that perhaps a little more elaboration was required to ascertain why he wasn't dead or screaming in pain yet. The answer became apparent rather quickly.

_Oh you have __**got**__ to be kidding me…_

There was no blood, nor was there any rips or tears in his clothes (another thing that Ryan was thankful for as this set was the only pair that he owned at the moment, and the only one that he was allowed to wear at any given time, which was a rather odd notion in his opinion), though the axe was definitely connected to his body…or rather, in close proximity as one of its edges was just a hair's distance away from touching him. He couldn't move without coming into contact with the glowing blade, which from his perspective (and everyone else's for that matter) was a _very_ bad position to be in because, well, in short…

Ryan, instead of being skewered on the spear point of the pike axe, was pinned to the wall.

_Terriermon_ giggled from over on the sidelines as he examined his little fingers, looking very much pleased with himself.

"That sure was a _close call_ wasn't it? Good thing that you have me here, huh? Take an impossible situation and put it together with a muse, and suddenly the improbable becomes _very_ probable."

_Sandiramon_ head snapped over to the long eared digimon with an expression of both shock and thwarted rage.

"You… you…_how __**DARE**__ YOU?!?!"_

_Terriermon_ simply scoffed. "Seriously, that line's starting to get a little bit old. I said that I was going to stop you from interfering with the story, and that's what I mean to do even if I have to take you on personally. Once the story has started you can't stop it. Only a muse can do that. Can't believe that you forgot that simple fact of writing already."

"_Terriermon…"_ hissed Sandiramon angrily with an expression so deadly that if looks could kill the original Terriermon would have died screaming with his twin. Richoemon in the meantime hooted in delight as he retracted the last remaining claw into his fist.

"Yessss! I've _still _got it! Even with Henry not here, I can still apply the _Jenrya Lee Method_ to predict whenever someone says Terriermon's name in agitation! Woo-hoo!"

Ryan, who was over on the wall, raised an eyebrow at his partner, matching the look on Tapirmon's face as they both regarded the Rookie incredulously.

"Seriously," said Ryan with a shake of his head, though the small smile on his face said that he was a little bit amused at Richoemon's antics. "You need a new hobby. Now can someone get me down from off this wall? 'Cause right now I'm more of a target then Takato with that goofy flag of his…"

"Aw, c'mon! What's wrong with Takato's flag?"

"It stands out like a sore thumb! It screams at the enemy and says _'shoot me'…_!"

**"Venom Axe!"**

Ryan's eyes bugged out of his head as he saw Sandiramon/Demon Dayz arch backwards and fire off another giant pike axe from his mouth, aimed right at him. Time seemed to slow down, and then, without any warning at all, the axe was knocked aside by a shining green sphere of energy that rocketed from the mouth of one, loud mouthed rabbit-dog.

_One of these days I really need to learn to __**not**__ stick my foot in my mouth like that,_ thought Ryan deliriously as a massive sweatdrop rolled down the side of his head. Sandiramon once again returned his glare to _Terriermon._

"That's it," the reptile said angrily. "No more mister nice author. You're rabbit stew now!"

"Technically I'm a dog," replied _Terriermon_, but his comment wasn't paid any attention to as Sandiramon/Demon Dayz lunged forward, hissing and snapping his jaws at the diminutive muse, who just dodged backwards and leveled another _Bunny Blast_ attack on the mad author, ironically contradicting his own statement at the same time.

But seriously, what more could be expected from the digimon show's dub writers?

"C'mon," said Tapirmon, nudging Richoemon with his little hooves. "We'd better free Ryan so that we can get him to safety and help fight Demon Dayz."

Richoemon nodded and the two of them set off to help their human friend…

…Only to get blindsided a second later as Sandiramon, having caught their movement peripherally, lashed out at the two digimon with his tail and sent them careening into the wall adjacent to where Ryan was stuck.

* * *

Kyubimon raced through the tunnel as quickly as she could, aided by the Hyper Speed card that Rika had slashed upon hopping onto the kitsune's back. The exit was fast approaching, and from the looks of things there was a tremendous fight already in progress. Picking up her pace just a little bit more, at the same time pushing thoughts and worries of her time with John to the side, Kyubimon surged towards the tunnel exit and lunged forward, clearing the last of the distance and spreading her tails out to prepare her _Fox Tail Inferno _attack against whatever foe that she was about to encounter. 

She was mildly surprised when she saw a giant, gray and black serpent collapse on the ground on the other side of the room with an earthshaking crash. As a soft groan emerged from the digimon's mouth, Kyubimon saw a small object perform an aerial back flip and land on the ground in front of her in what looked like a kung-fu stance. Kyubimon blinked her eyes in surprise.

"Kyubimon?" Asked Rika from up on the vulpine's back, sounding a little incredulous at the sight that she had just witnessed. "That's Terriermon standing in front of us, right?"

"Yes, Rika," replied Kyubimon with a nod of her head. "So it is."

Kyubimon felt Rika shift on her back, as though trying to regain her bearings.

"Well, I have to say, Henry certainly trained rabbitmon better then I gave him credit for. He just flattened an Ultimate with that move of his. That looked pretty brutal there…"

"AND _THAT'S _FOR TRYING TO DELETE RYAN AGAIN, YOU…YOU…YOU **SNAKE!"**

_Wha…? Ryan's here?_ Thought Rika, taking a look around and finally spying the boy pinned to the wall by one axe that was fixed to his waist and trapping one of his arms, while another hung precariously above his head as though someone had just tried in a most extreme way to give him a new hair cut. For a moment the red haired girl's heart seemed to stop, wondering as to his present condition. Was he dead? Or was he…?

"Nice insult, Terriermon. You wanna call him a cold-blooded monster next?" Chided Ryan in a sarcastic tone that did nothing to conceal the nervousness he felt about his second close brush with death. Rika unconsciously let out a sigh of relief before her eyes became firm. Grasping a hold of the striped tubes that were attached to her partner's neck, Rika leapt off of her partner's back and landed on the waiting platform and pulling a card from her deck box to aid Kyubimon once she joined in on the battle.

"Time to make ourselves a new pair of cowboy boots," said Rika as she raised the card to her D-Arc.

"And a purse to match," said Kyubimon as she tensed, preparing to launch herself into battle.

"Walk all over hi…"

"You won't be doing _any_ walking," said _Terriermon_, not bothering to look at the duo. "This guy's way out of your league."

"What?" Demanded Rika angrily. "Give me a break! You K-O'd him without breaking a sweat and you're just a Rookie you weenie little rabbit!"

"Except that he's not," called out a voice weakly. Looking over, Rika found Tapirmon getting up from a small pile of rubble that lay directly in front of a wall with a rather large crater indented into it.

"What do you mean?"

"He's a muse, Rika." This time from Ryan as he squirmed to get into a more comfortable position, the edges of the axe blades being quite the cause of discomfort for him at the moment. "He's got power equivalent to, if not greater then an author. It doesn't matter what level that little guy is at; he's a far better match for that snake there at the moment unless you digivolve again."

"Like it matters," snorted _Terriermon_ in a self-important tone. "In about ten seconds we're about to get a few visitors that are going to turn the tide here."

The sounds of rock cracking suddenly filled the air at that moment, and then a section of the roof caved in. Sandiramon's eyes snapped open and he began to move to get out of the way…

Sandiramon, AKA Demon Dayz, didn't make it and his scream resounded in the subway as the combined weight of Growlmon, Gargomon, and a whole pile of stone came crashing down on top of him. Shards of data could be seen floating in the air as the dust settled, revealing the disheveled, forms of Gargomon, Growlmon, Henry, and Takato, all rubbing the back of their heads sheepishly as they grinned and chuckled nervously.

"Sorry we're late," said Takato. Rika blinked and smirked at the boy.

"Look who finally decided to show up," she said sarcastically before indicating where Ryan was pinned to the wall with a nod of her head. "Anyone care to give me a hand over there?"

"It would be appreciated," called out Ryan.

* * *

Ryo Akiyama scanned the area around him before coming out from hiding, indicating to Monodromon that it was all right to follow. Creeping out from behind a tree, Monodromon sniffed the air a couple times while Ryo checked his digivice for any potential hostiles. 

"Anything?" Asked Monodromon in a quiet voice. Ryo shook his head.

"Nothing. It's as quiet as a tomb around here. I'd say that looks like a good sign, but we both know from experience that if something looks too good to be true, it usually isn't."

_"Quite true Ryo,"_ said a dark voice from behind the partners. _"And I know that just as well as you do…"_

"Wha…?" Ryo spun around, completely caught off guard. A shadow fell over the Legendary Tamer and Monodromon and electricity sparked upon the air.

The next sound that could be heard was the sound of screaming.

* * *

11 


	62. Chapter 62

Disclaimer: I don't own any items or characters associated with the digimon show, such as Jeri's sock puppet, that I did not make up myself.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 61

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen

**Much Ado About Fiction:** Part 5

Blasts of raw power tore holes through the ground as a humanoid, blue-scaled dragon wearing army-green pants and small metal plates attached to his shoulders and wrists raced across the landscape, ducking and weaving as it dodged incoming bolts of energy that showered almost everywhere around him. In the creature's arms, a boy strained to hold onto a deck of cards and sort through them at the same time while the azure dragon-man evaded the attacks of the enemy that had been stalking them these past few weeks. Behind them, a large being constructed of flickering energy that reminded the boy of television static let out a roar of frustration as it stomped towards them, firing another volley of energy blasts from what looked to be cannon shaped objects attached to its back. As they were like the rest of the creature's appearance, that is to say indiscernible the boy could only go on what visual cues that he had available to make that kind of assertion but given that they _were_ firing pulses of destructive blasts and had done so on each and every one of their encounters thus far he imagined that he wasn't all that far off from the truth.

_Sure wish this guy would give Strikedramon a breather so that I can digivolve him to Cyberdramon,_ thought Ryo as Strikedramon did a back flip, causing the Legendary Tamer to nearly lose his cards in one go._ In his current form we don't stand a chance, even with the Goliath card powering him up! As much as I hate to admit it, we're in very deep trouble here._

"Would you two just stay put?" Growled the energy being as it closed the distance between itself and the Legendary Tamer, slapping at them with its flickering claws. Strikedramon deftly avoided the attack by performing an acrobatic leap into the air and once more flipped backwards, trying to put some distance between himself and the giant, rampaging monster.

_Weird,_ thought Ryo as he finally drew a card from his deck that he thought would be appropriate for this battle. _Now that I think about it, he never actually talked to us before. Just attacked. I wonder if that's an evolution in his mind or something. Or maybe I'm looking to deeply into it._

Deciding that this was not an appropriate time to think upon the finer points of his opponent's personality Ryo slashed a Rapidmon card through his D-Arc's slot to increase his partner's speed and attack power. Becoming a near invisible blur, Strikedramon phased out of view, taking this moment as an opportunity to get the heck out of dodge so that they could come up with a more appropriate plan of attack against this strange and bizarre entity that had been haunting them for so long. They didn't get that far.

**"Time Unlimited!"** Shouted the strange, flickering creature as a sphere of dark, static energy appeared in what could be taken as its mouth and erupted outwards, flooding the landscape with its power and warping the environment wherever it touched. Strikedramon and Ryo reemerged into visibility; the movements of the former strangely slow moving as though struggling against some invisible force that was trying to keep him in one place. Ryo's eyes widened as his mind processed what was going on around him. It looked like their opponent had the ability to warp time, which in short meant that they were _really_ screwed this time. For some reason though Ryo felt as though he had seen this attack before, but he couldn't quite place where…

"Now that I have your undivided attention," began the creature as it began to approach them, the ground shaking beneath its feet. "I had hoped that we could have a little talk. You see, things aren't what they're supposed to be, and I need your help to put them all back right. I'm not complete right now…I suppose I have the Lord of Fantasy's little _program_ to thank for that, the little bastard. Can't fault him for defending himself though. At any rate _Digital Survivor_, the time has come for you two to stop acting and get back into the swing of things. We have a world to save."

The flickering form of the creature began to stabilize and take on a new shape as it reached out towards Ryo Akiyama and Strikedramon. Rings of data began to form around the creature's body as a light began to emerge from its center, enveloping Ryo and Strikedramon in its all-consuming intensity.

* * *

_Shit!_ Thought Demon Dayz fiercely as his body shuddered in the blue, sparkling haze of the central domain of the Trinity. _Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! Damn it! I can't believe it! Neo III…I am __**so**__ going to kill you when I see you in school tomorrow! I can't believe this! You and your stupid muses! Freaking little rabbit! I can't __**believe**__ that it attacked me! Nothing like that has happened in all of recorded fan fiction history! Sure there are a few raids of the fridge but actually being physically assaulted by a muse?! That's never happened before! What the hell happened back there?_

Demon Dayz's avatar form was in wretched shape. Data seeped from almost every corner of his body. True it was not his body that had received the brunt of the blow in that battle down in the subway (Sandiramon had the honor of that) but the link between himself and his host body was so close so as to facilitate a perfect mind control that in the end he too had been hurt just as badly. The only reason that he hadn't been outright destroyed, as Sandiramon or Mihiramon had been (and why his injuries weren't as grievous after Mihiramon had been defeated) was due partly because of his ability and speed at terminating the link.

He just hadn't been as quick as he would have liked this time around.

_I need to recover from this. Shouldn't take too long, but after this most recent battle I'm going to need to be more careful about fighting it out with the characters now that that blasted muse has joined their company. A muse is a dangerous entity to confront so I'll need to come up with a new plan. I'd use my muse if it weren't forbidden at this moment due to the fact that the Tamer's world isn't his story and if I was sure that such a confrontation wouldn't result in complete and utter annihilation of the story. Neo III hates having to start from scratch. He can be so lazy at times. _

_But that's beside the point. I'm going to have to wait for the right opportunity here, and to do that I need the right digimon so that I can really lay waste to those OC's and compensate for both that Avatar and the muse. The next Deva isn't quite strong enough, and if I take control of Zhuqiaomon then I'll lose what control I already have over the story and the script will warp out of control. So what factors can I use to my advantage to salvage the situation as best as I can and still have the story remain on track?_

_…_

_Yes. Yes. I think that will do just nicely. Knight to Queen seven, to use chess terminology here. I'm going to have to play a __**very**__ careful game here. Keep a close eye on things, tweak the script as much as I safely can without the muse noticing and wait for all hell to break lose._

_Heh. I'm going to enjoy this…

* * *

_

John rubbed the bottom of his chin thoughtfully as he stared at the television screen before finally sighing and giving a shake of his head.

"I don't know Takato," the author avatar said finally as he looked at the goggle wearing boy standing next to him. "I can't really help you here. For some reason the digimon show is providing us with a window into the doings of the previous two seasons and you're the only character of this season that can see it. I think that it has something to do with you having been kicked out of the script by whatever it was that got Ryan in your place but I can't see what the purpose of it all is. Sorry that I can't be of any more help."

Takato heaved a sigh. "That's okay. It still seems weird seeing all those changes in my favorite TV show but I'm getting used to them. I never expected Kimeramon to show up that early, or with a new appearance but it is making the old shows a little more interesting." Takato chuckled lightly to himself. "Well, for me anyway. Kazu and Kenta don't believe me even though they're willing to give me the benefit of the doubt after they found out that I'm a Tamer. Kazu's of the opinion that the super-villains think that they can beat us by changing the old episodes."

"Weird thing is he's not that far from the truth," said John. Takato laughed.

"I know. Can you imagine that? The one time where Kazu's actually right about something happens to be when the whole universe is starting to come apart at the seems and everything turns out to just be a show. I don't know what's scarier, the fact that Kazu actually got close to the truth or that I'm believing it."

"You get used to it," said John with a wry smile before thinking back on the past few days. Things had been relatively quiet in Shinjuku of late. No sign of the author Demon Dayz could be seen and so far the season had gotten back onto something resembling normal, canon material. The last Devas that had shown up had been the chicken, Sinduramon, complete with a mind-controlled owl that spoke like a southern priest, followed by the duo Vajramon and Pajiramon. As expected there had been some fighting and property damage involved but otherwise the digimon had lacked the dark colorings and focus on destroying John and Ryan that had been prevalent with the previous Deva incarnations. All worrying, but at least they had been expected. Of course, while this similarity with canon events did much to calm the nerves of most of the characters it also had the bad luck of decreasing the number of plot holes that could help them escape this website.

_All things come to those who wait,_ commiserated John knowing that the policy of patience would have double results but there was little that he could do about it. He couldn't control the story even though he was an author and any attempts on his part to alter it would speed up the loss of energy that being separated from his account already forced him to experience. Renamon had asked if there was any way that she could help him, some method that allowed an author and a character to share energy but to the extent of his knowledge no such thing ever existed or had even been attempted. And with his limited resources, he wasn't willing to try either, _especially_ with Renamon. He didn't want to risk her safety.

_Even though that's just what she's doing with Vajramon right now,_ thought John squashing the worry that he felt for the digital vixen. He knew that she was going to be all right. But when taking into account that this wasn't the actual TV show John had plenty of reason to worry. He knew that Rika certainly did enough on her own.

"So," began Takato in an attempt to break up the silence that had fallen between them. "Um…tell me something. Was it really true what you said about me and Rika being involved in this…uh…story?"

"It was," said John with a rueful shake of his head. "But not anymore. Like I said…"

"I know," said Takato. "Ryan took my place. But it still sounds weird. I mean, Rika and me? That's…it just gets weirder every time I think of it."

John shrugged.

"Not from my point of view, but then my opinion's a little bit biased. I don't normally get involved in all this _pairing_ business but the idea isn't that far fetched when you think about it. I've seen the season and there were definitely more hints between you and her then say Rika with Henry, but that's overshadowed by your feelings for Jeri and so anything between you and Rika isn't necessarily considered canon unless you're one of those die hards that saw the _Runaway Locomon _movie. But like most coupling stories there has to be some basis or development between characters to make it plausible…or at least _tolerable_ in a reader's eyes. At any rate, it's not your concern any more, and if you had your memories you _wouldn't _be concerned about it."

"I guess so," said Takato uncertainly. "Still seems weird."

A pall of silence fell between the two characters for a moment.

"Henry's been getting kind of distant lately," said Takato after a few seconds. John nodded.

"I know. It just seems to be the way of things around here right now. I think that this is supposed to be the angst part of the story."

Takato raised an eyebrow.

"Why's that?"

John sighed, thinking of just how to answer that. For Henry, the answer was pretty simple. After all, it hadn't been all that long ago that he had been told that he and the others were all fictional characters who had their memories wiped and then were thrown into a story where they were supposed to fall in love with someone. The thought that everything that he had experienced didn't sit well with Henry, never mind the fact that his growing feelings for a certain puppet-loving girl were apparently forced on him by some _higher entity_. Those two alone were enough to make Henry withdraw a little bit from his friends so that he could come to grips with his newly rediscovered reality (though Henry still had a difficult time believing John and Ryan despite having Daisuke and V-Mon around to confirm the story), but there was also the situation with his friend Takato to think about as well. Takato, who had been bumped out of the script that was originally designed to encompass him, had returned to his default memories and emotions, the latter of which were already beginning to develop towards the same puppet-loving girl that Henry was also falling for.

_This could get ugly,_ thought John thinking of all the love triangle fics that he had read in the past. _I only hope that none of the characters go all OC now. The last thing I need is a jealous Henry trying to strangle Takato or vice versa. They're both good guys but they're still wide open to author influence even though the muse has rebelled against Demon Dayz. Speaking of whom I really wish that little bunny-dog didn't just take off when he did. He could have been a big help. But that's the life of a muse I guess. They only do things that they think is important and rarely, if ever, do anything for a character or an author unless it involves advancement of a plotline. Such limited creatures. I've never understood them. But I am going to have to deal with Henry at some point. I'll see if I can't get that handled today before we have to head out and deal with Vajramon per today's episode._

John frowned and sighed.

_I wonder how Ryan's making out right now. I know that he said that he, Richoemon, Daisuke, and V-Mon were going to go plot hole hunting even though I told him that it was a waste of time at this stage of events. We didn't find a plot hole after that encounter with Sandiramon after all and one would think that we'd have those crawling up the wazoo after that battle ended. But then again, things followed the course of the script even though an author and a muse came along, and the descriptions been on par so far…hn. This is going to be even harder then I thought._

John shook his head, realizing that Takato was still waiting for an answer to his question.

_I wonder if I should have told Ryan that Rika was going to be in a dress today, what with that inner-voice problem that he's got going on. Oh well…

* * *

_

Ryan frowned at his digivice, wishing that there were a plainly visible button or something that he could use so that he could alter its scanning programming and enable him to track down plot holes. He had been on his feet all day today and hadn't found so much of a single visual sighting of a plot hole. Of course, the fact that he couldn't get into every inch of this city like buildings really didn't help things much but as plot holes tended to focus on certain inconsistencies in a story, usually the main points of a story, he didn't feel that he had to worry about that sort of thing. Still, it would be nice if he could cover _all_ the bases. At least that way he wouldn't feel that he was getting sore feet for nothing.

_Stupid digivice,_ grumbled Ryan mentally as he took a glance at Richoemon, who was currently drinking out of Shinjuku Park's drinking fountain, his feet dangling in the air as the water splashed into his mouth. After a couple minutes the little digimon raised his head and hopped down, smacking his mouth in satisfaction.

"So," said the tiger striped dinosaur happily. "Where to next?"

"I was half considering Hypnos," said Ryan as he stepped up to the water fountain and turned it on to take his turn. "But that idea isn't too good seeing as how Yamaki's memories are wiped too and won't take too kindly to a kid and a digimon breaking and entering onto Hypnos grounds. It's bad enough that John's spotted him snooping around the area of the park already, keeping an eye on us."

_"I'll say,"_ said Daisuke._ "But where else are we going to go? We've checked out all the major locations that are associated with the show __**except**__ for Hypnos. Shinjuku Guard Rail, the constructions site where Guilmon first emerged and the other one where Gorillamon first came through. We even checked out the area in the park where Renamon first digivolved and the building where IceDevimon first appeared."_

_"Yeah," _said V-Mon. _"Where else are we going to go?"_

"We haven't checked out the areas that haven't been shown yet, like the stadium that we're going to be paying a visit to tonight."

_"Yeah, except that we can't access that place before that scene appears unless the author or muse says otherwise and last I checked the author was trying to kill you and the muse has up and vanished."_

"You're such a pessimist V-Mon," said Richoemon. "That's precisely what we're hoping for. Ryan and I discussed it last night. If we can't get into the place that means that it's undescribed at the moment, which increases our odds of finding a plot hole."

V-Mon groaned.

_"Why can't you get my name right? The canon characters can…"_

Ryan and Richoemon rolled their eyes. That was a rather odd quirk that they had recently discovered. The canon characters were perfectly capable of pronouncing V-Mon's name right even though it sounded just how John and the rest of the OC's pronounced it. Very weird and a regular source of irritation for John, but that couldn't be helped. None of the canon characters knew what they had done right and V-Mon wouldn't say anything as to how that worked.

_"Anyway," _coughed Daisuke as he turned the topic of conversation back to the one at hand. _"What makes you guys think that we'll find a plot hole in a place that we've never been or can't even get into?"_

"Well," began Richoemon, taking on the tone of a teacher. "A lot of plot holes come about from some mistake in description or continuity from the story proper. If a place is left undescribed then it counts as a weak point in the story. Depending on what's being left fallow we'll have differing strengths and size of _plot hole-ness_, and the bigger the undescribed, the better for us. At least that's the theory anyway…"

"None of which was mentioned when we first proposed it to John, _professor,"_ Ryan remarked sarcastically as he bent down to take a drink of water.

"I came up with most of it on the spot. Sounds good anyway…"

_"Made sense to me,"_ said Daisuke. _"Though I tend to leave stuff like that up to real professors, scientists, and Koushiro…"_

"I really think that's just character distortion from the dub speaking for you Dai," said Richoemon. "But yeah, I probably should leave the smart thinking to those who have all the right buzzwords and…uh, hey Ryan? You okay buddy?"

Ryan, who had been teetering slightly on his feet shook his head and blinked. "Huh? Oh, sorry Richoemon. I just…I don't know. I felt sort of woozy there for a second. Saw some words flicker in my vision too but I think that I'm okay now."

Smiling at his partner Ryan leaned back in towards the water fountain to refresh himself once again before continuing onwards when a shadow fell over him. Taking a perfunctory glance up, Ryan saw a sight that immediately made him choke on the water that he had been drinking and stagger backwards, coughing a little as his face turned a dark shade of red, blinking his eyes to see if what was in front of him was a mirage or not. No such luck.

_"Smooth moves Casanova,"_ chuckled a voice within Ryan's mind. Ryan glowered and bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from replying back. Now was not a time to start up an argument with the _inner-voice_ that had refused to leave him alone these past few days.

_My day was going so well too,_ thought Ryan irritably as in front of him a familiar red haired girl with a fiery temper tilted her head to one side at his unexpected reaction and raised an eyebrow.

"What's the matter with you?" Asked Rika, her hair, which was undone and touching the top of the dress (as hard as it was for Ryan to believe, especially with the color) that she wore, swished slightly to the side in a manner that almost captivated Ryan's attention. In the background of his mind, Ryan could hear the _inner-voice_ begin to chuckle mischievously at him. Ryan closed his eyes and did a quick count to three, unclenching his fingers as he did so before answering.

"You…ah…just caught me by surprise, that's all. Didn't expect to see you here."

_"I'll bet,"_ chided an all too familiar voice as it laughed softly in Ryan's head. _"After all, it's not every day that Rika there gets in a getup like that. I have to say, she looks pretty stunning; don't you agree?"_

…

Rika _hmmphed _and crossed her arms, looking just a tad bit annoyed right now. Ryan, having firsthand experience with her intense dislike of dresses wisely chose not to comment on it. Daisuke, being intangible, had no such restraint.

_"Didn't expect to see you in a dress either,"_ he said. _"Even though this is the episode that you were supposed to appear in one anyway, but like our friend here said we sure didn't expect to see you in one around here."_

Rika narrowed her eyes.

"I was just coming through here so that I didn't have so many people staring at me. I can't believe that my mom thinks that this thing is all the rage these days. Anyway, what are you doing out here? Still looking for plot holes?"

"Beats doing nothing," said Ryan with a noncommittal shrug of his shoulders. "Things have been pretty quiet lately and I'd rather not sit around doing nothing."

"Can't argue with that," said Rika with a small smile and a nod of her head. "I'm going to be heading out and looking for Renamon after I get home and get out of this stupid outfit…"

"Sounds good," interrupted Ryan, hating himself for the irritated tone and impatience that he had right now, but the voice that was constantly chattering in his mind…

_"Look at her! I think that she wants to go with you on your little search! How can you __**not**__ turn that down? What is wrong with…?"_

…Was making it hard for him to concentrate. It always got bad whenever he was around Rika, and right now seeing her wearing a dress was elevating his problem to new levels. The voice just kept getting louder and louder with each passing second.

_"…You?! She's not a bad person and can be quite warm hearted, which you'd __**know**__ if you watched the show! One little incident when you two first met and you have to hate her for all eternity? She hasn't done bad by you since then, and it __**was**__ an accident. Remember all those times that she's helped you out and been there for you? That's the sign of someone of someone that you can trust, and I can tell you that Rika's not the sort of person who would try to rip your heart out, romantically speaking that is…_

"Yeah, well," said Rika, sounding as though she too was a little bit miffed with Ryan's interruption but chose not to comment on it…_yet._ "I was thinking that we should go together, seeing as how our objectives are the same…"

Ryan closed his hands into fists and clenched his eyes shut, feeling the inner voice increase its verbal assault on him, drowning out his own thoughts. And that wasn't all now. With the voice came a flood of warm emotions that battered at him, making his body warm and his heart speed up. His whole body felt like it was tingling, making him feel weak. His mind swarmed with sharp emotions ranging from anger, sadness, happiness, disgust, and fear. They all stung at him, clawed at him, strove to make him see them for what they were in all their glory, and try as hard as he might, he knew what they wanted…what they were.

_Oh please God, not this! Not this! I don't want this…_

Regardless. The emotional torrent that was now raging in his heart either didn't know or didn't care about his own feelings and simply brushed them aside like so much refuse. Ryan wasn't sure how much longer he could go on like this. He was starting to feel _torn up_ inside…

"…And I wanted to talk to you too," continued Rika before pausing and looking at Ryan, wondering if he was feeling all right. All of a sudden he wasn't looking so good right now. Rika tilted her head to one side again and stepped forward with a curious gaze. "Hey, is everything all…?"

"NO!"

…

…

Silence hung in the air between them for a moment before Ryan continued.

"Rika…I can't…just…I…" Ryan felt his body shaking as his sentences tattered. His body flushed as emotions continued to tear through his defenses. And through it all was that voice, berating him. Mocking him…

Rika laid a soft hand on Ryan's shoulder. Ryan shuddered.

"What's going on?" Rika asked, her voice carrying worry and a firmness in it that all but demanded that he tell her. And underlying it was a tenderness that pulled at the boy's heart.

"Just…just…"

A pause.

"…Stay _away_ from me!"

Not even bothering to see what Rika's reaction was to that Ryan tore away from her grasp and ran off into the depths of the park, ignoring the cries of his friends…and that of Rika's as her surprised shout carried on the wind after him.

* * *

10 


	63. Chapter 63

Disclaimer: Weird Al Yankovich doesn't own the songs that he parodies; hence neither do I own digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 62

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen

**Much Ado About Fiction:** Part 6

John walked out of the elevator, not even noticing the doors closing behind him as he immersed himself in his thoughts. He had a lot on his mind of late. Perfectly understandable given that he and his friends, characters of the fictional franchise known as digimon, had been kidnapped and forced into a story that made the large majority of them, namely the _canon_ characters, lose their memory so that their original story could be rewritten to suit the needs and desires of the authors. Obviously things didn't go out as planned and now the authors were out to destroy them. Well, specifically to destroy those anomalies that have prevented their stories from working out as well as they wanted them too; the _Original Characters._ But that was more peripheral in his mind. John was well enough aware of the situation, being an author himself and being caught in the middle of the problem, that he didn't need to go over it again. As fun as trotting down memory lane could be the Avatar's mind was more focused on trying to figure out a way out of the mess. At this point there was little else that could be done except wait, hope to find a plot hole, and if failing that go to the digital world after Vikaralamon came to the real world and wrecked havoc. As that would create a portal he could follow through with his original plan of finding Fanglongmon, but the odds of that plan, John felt, was even slimmer then discovering a plot hole.

_So far, aside from food, the authors had been very meticulous with their description and documentation of events, places, characters, and even keeping their spelling correct_._ There's the food of course. I haven't seen a single described Japanese dish since arriving here, but food is a very minute detail and not all the combined meals in the world are going to create the kind of plot hole that we need. I really hope that the upcoming battle with Vajramon yields the results that we need…_

John frowned as he made his way down the hallway and stood in front of the Wong family residence, his hands stuffed deep in his pockets as he took a deep breath.

_But first, I need to have a chat with Henry. He's been pretty out of it lately. Ever since I told him and the others that they're fictional characters he's been distant. Can't say I blame him given the circumstances. This stories plot is supposed to have him falling in love with Jeri, Rika falling in love with Takato and vice versa for both of those characters and everything's been turned on its head. Takato's back to his default character with a growing crush on Jeri. That's going to cause some trouble down the road. Convoluted love triangles always seem to be. It's what makes for good drama after all, but when you see how the characters end up reacting to that sort of thing…the pain that they go through it becomes amazing that we authors ever find the ability to put them in that situation. It's why I got out of the coupling battles in the first place._

_Still…it does seem a bit strange that Henry's taking this so hard, if he is that is. From everything I heard from those who were there for his awakening he actually took it pretty well. More so then Rika and Takato did at any rate but that's understandable given how __**they**__ awoke. It must be weird being all passionate and weepy one minute and then wondering why the heck you're that way the next. Renamon would know…if she could remember that is…_

Realizing that he was digressing from his original line of thought, John's frown deepened and he raised his closed fist and rapped on the door to the Henry and his family's apartment. As he waited, John leaned back on the heels of his feet; both hands once more back in his pockets as he hummed a light tune. John traced his mind back to his conversation with Takato, and the Tamer's worries about his half-Chinese friend. He wondered if he should have brought Takato so that they could settle things in a more direct manner before swiftly banishing the thought. To push things too quickly could be disastrous, and it could easily result in the end of Takato and Henry's friendship during the duration of their memory loss, eventually causing complications that he'd sooner avoid if they were all going to get out of the story safe and sound.

_Sometimes it can be so very hard being an author,_ thought John as he heard the sound of feet approaching.

_But not anywhere near as hard as it can to be a character,_ John continued as the door clicked open, revealing Henry's sister, Suzie as she peeked through the opening with one, violet eye.

"Hewo!"

A small smile tugged at the corners of John's mouth at the complete cuteness of the little girl that was Henry sister. He just couldn't help himself. In spite of the fact that Suzie Wong and her Japanese counterpart Shuichon Li were considered the great terrors of any digimon that was shorter then three feet (owing to the creation of the inside joke 'you must be this tall to be traumatized by this ride') the little girls had continuously won Digimon Cuteness Contests across the Fanfic Domain for years since their Awakening, and had only been beaten once by the ever loving cuteness of Calumon and Culumon. Their rather large, buggy eyes complete with the sad puppy face had proven to be quite the formidable adversary for the two young girls, but ultimately not an insurmountable one.

_Although, if I recall correctly from the Digimon Celebrity forums Suzie had nearly gone in for Chibi surgery to do it. Her mother was not at all happy about that…_

"Hey there Suzie," said John as he bent forwards a ways so that they were more eye level. "Is your brother home?"

Suzie's face bloomed into a playful, innocent smile as she looked fully at the author.

"Whyyyy?"

John froze in surprise.

_Wha…?_

"Um…because I need to see him."

"Whyyyy?"

"Because it's a matter of great importance."

Suzie's expression didn't change much. Instead it remained bright, cheerful, and almost teasing. Her response was rather predictable.

"Whyyyy?"

_Oh, you have __**got**__ to be kidding me…_

John's right eyebrow twitched subtly as he tried to think of a way around the little three foot tall Ewok without attracting any attention or causing the girl to be upset.

_Give me a deadline and I'll make it. Give me author-possessed characters and I'm fine. Give me Demon Lords and I'll make them wish that they were never born. But in the end what is it that stops me? A cute little girl with an overabundance of energy. Next thing I know blond, gothic lolitas will start popping up from out of nowhere…oh wait. One actually does…damn._

"Because if I don't get to talk to Henry, the whole world could potentially be destroyed."

Suzie simply stared at John for a few seconds, her expression still not changing.

"Whyyy?"

_God damn it…_

"Suzie!" Called out Henry's older sister, Jaarin as she passed by the door and noticed the commotion. "Just let the kid in! If he wants to see Henry, let him see Henry! C'mon. I'll get you some ice cream if you do…"

That finally did it. With a squeal of delight, Suzie flung the door open wide enough for John to pass through. With a relieved chuckle John stepped inside of the Wong apartment and thanked Jaarin for her help before being quickly directed to Henry's room, leaving the older girl to deal with Suzie's ever increasing hyperactive state. John briefly wondered if Suzie, now that she was all wound up and would continue to do so for the next hour or so, would barge into Henry's room looking for Terriermon.

_This doesn't exactly bode well either,_ thought John as he rapped lightly on the door leading to Henry's room. Upon hearing a noncommittal sound from the other side, John opened up the door and let himself in where he was greeted by Terriermon, who was presently standing on top of Henry's back. Henry was presently face down on his bed, his face buried in his pillow. John mentally groaned upon seeing it, recognizing the signs for what they were.

_Teenage angst and drama. Great. This is going to be fun. I'd rather read a Daikari then deal with this…well, that's cutting it close actually, but still…_

"How're you doing Henry?"

"Mmnngh…" came the muffled reply. John sighed and turned to Terriermon.

"I'm sorry. I don't speak angst so well. How's he doing Terriermon?"

"What do you think?" Terriermon crossed his arms and looked over his shoulder at his barely responsive partner, a frown creasing his face. "He's in a funk today! He was all fine and dandy during the last couple since that incident down in the tunnels but all of a sudden he's taken a turn for the worst. Don't ask me how or why because he won't tell me. Maybe he saw Jeri holding hands with Takato in the park or something…"

From this, Terriermon received an irritated groaning sound that could only be described as fitting within the contemporary molds of the name _Terriermon_. John could already hear Richoemon shouting in delight from across the city.

John sighed and shook his head.

"Well, this isn't the first time I've seen a character go all to pieces while a script was running. It bonds to them pretty intimately so that they can feel the required emotions to their fullest effect. I'm starting to think that there should be a law against it…"

"I'm starting to think that you're right," grumbled Terriermon. "How is it that you authors can do this stuff? It doesn't seem right."

John shrugged his shoulders.

"There was once a time where you would have been able to answer your question, Terriermon. I'll never understand why you guys put up with us these days, though it can easily be said that Ruki, Rika's double, isn't too fond of us. You guys never offered an explanation about that, at least none that's recorded. Anyway, I figure that as long as Henry doesn't try to cut on himself and start talking about suicide or joining the dark side he'll be fine."

Terriermon's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Say wha…? You don't think that he'd…he…"

"Relax Terriermon. This isn't a Taiora fic…"

"I'd appreciate it if you guys wouldn't talk about me as if I wasn't here," grumbled Henry as he moved his head so that he could speak. John gave the Canon Character a sympathetic look.

"Sorry. But you weren't exactly being talkative. You've only spoken two words with a limited number of syllables since I got here, and one of them wasn't even translatable. You kind of need to contribute to the conversation…"

"Mnnng…Terriermon…"

"What? What're you getting after me for? John was the one who said that! Not me!"

Henry groaned and sat up as the little rabbit dog jumped off of his back.

"Sorry. I guess I'm just used to you saying things like that. What's up John?"

"I was just checking up on you. Wanted to see how you were handling the script that you received for this fic."

Henry sighed and placed his head in his hands.

"Script. That still sounds strange every time I hear that. If it weren't for everything that you've told me and everything that's been going on lately I'd think that you were as crazy as Terriermon here…"

"Hey!" Cried Terriermon, huffing indignantly as he scowled at his partner.

"Yeah," said John, nodding in understanding. "A lot of us thought pretty much the same thing when we first found out that you guys were alive and that the Fanfic Domain was a complete and separate world. It didn't change the fact that you were real though and we did the best we could to adapt to the situation since then. And now, here we are, practically at square one all over again."

The room became silent after that, and John looked at Henry's face, trying to read his emotional weather. He opened his mouth to say something, what he didn't know for sure; perhaps something uplifting, something to reconcile the conflict of emotions that was going on in Henry's heart. In the end, John found himself without anything to say, and feeling that it would be wrong to break the boy's thoughts, promptly closed his mouth and waited for Henry to make the first move. After a few minutes, he did.

"When I first saw Jeri," began Henry slowly. "It felt as though I had been hit…_dazed_ I guess you could say. Never mind the increase in temperature in my face…" Henry smiled as he said that, as though fondly recalling the early days, or rather _chapters,_ of the story that he had been involved in. His smile soon fell as he continued. "…But then, _you_ guys came along, and what you told me and the others completely changed everything. Jeri…I was never meant to love her from the beginning. What I felt for her…it made me feel as though I was just a convenient person to have for Jeri to fall for so that Takato and Rika could get together. And now that Takato doesn't see Rika the same way that I see Jeri…"

Henry's voice trailed off and he looked over at John, his eyes imploring him to say something on behalf of the thought that went into the design of his feelings. John walked over to Henry's computer and pulled up the boy's chair and sat down in it, its back facing the half Chinese boy as John crossed his arms on it and laid his head down on them.

"Yeah. Yeah it does seem like that," said John. "I won't lie to you Henry. A lot of Rukato fics tend to employ that particular plot device in the way that you describe it and only a very small few ever bother to resolve the major issues or have any development beyond one or two lines between yourself and Jeri to justify the pairing. In fact, most times the writer has you two falling for each other from the second you two meet."

"And we stand for it?" Asked Henry in a low voice. John frowned.

"Relationships are…_complicated_ back in the Fanfic Domain. Canon Characters as a rule try to keep things as fluid between them as possible though a few stable relationships have come and gone as a result of the stories that they participate in, whether it's been between Canon Characters, OC's or a mix of the two. Like I was telling Terriermon earlier I don't understand your reasons for sticking around with us the way that you do. You certainly don't do it out of fear of survival, and you all have settled in quite nicely…with the occasional attempt to strangle an author that is but that's mostly Ruki and no one likes to talk about _her _reasons why…and no Terriermon. I'm not going to say anything about it. We're trying to help Henry here…_remember?"_

Terriermon blinked his eyes in surprise, but was otherwise silent.

Henry glanced over at his alarm clock, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"He'll be coming back today isn't he? Vajramon…"

John raised an eyebrow but nodded.

"Yeah. Tonight I believe, provided that there aren't any further changes in the script."

"Could there be any…_changes?"_

John gave a wry laugh.

"If I know anything about stories, it's that they rarely stay the same for very long."

The sound of a phone ringing suddenly pierced the silence, as though lending credit to John's last statement.

* * *

Richoemon sniffed the air cautiously as Tapirmon floated next to him as they sat next to the small pond in the yard belonging to the Nonaka family. The two Rookie level digimon were trying as best as they could to stay calm. The air had taken on a tension to it that made them both rather _disquieted_. They both had reason to be too. After all, it hadn't been all that long ago when… 

_Shhhk!_

Richoemon and Tapirmon were startled out of their thoughts and silent musings as the slide door to Rika's room slid open and the red haired Tamer stepped outside, dressed now in her usual clothes instead of the frilly, pink and white colored dress from earlier. A hard expression was on her face as she looked over at the two digimon and she walked over to them.

"All right. Any of you two care to volunteer any information as to what the heck happened earlier with Ryan?"

Richoemon blanched a bit at Rika's prickly tone.

_Shouldn't she have asked that earlier when we were trying to catch him?_ Wondered Richoemon before looking over at Tapirmon, his eyes pleading with the other Rookie to help him out here._ Or better yet after we lost him and had to come back here so that Rika could change? _

Shrugging it off as a byproduct of drama Richoemon turned back to the violet eyed girl, who was clearly waiting for an answer from one of them. Richoemon gulped audibly.

_Into the abyss…_

"Uh…well…there's a funny story behind that…"

Rika's eyes narrowed.

"I'm _not_ laughing."

"So we noticed," muttered Tapirmon, and then coughed when Rika turned her harsh gaze on him. Richoemon turned to Tapirmon, sweat standing out profusely on his brow.

"Um…Tapirmon…maybe you could tell her?"

Tapirmon's eyes bulged in their sockets.

_"Me?! Why not __**you?!**_He's your partner…!"

"Will just _one of you_ just tell me already?!" Rika took a deep breath in an effort to calm down before looking over at Richoemon. "Richoemon. Tapirmon's right about one thing. _You're_ Ryan's partner. That makes you the most likely candidate to be able to explain things. Now no more playing around! What is wrong with Ryan that made him freak out the way that he did?"

Richoemon closed his eyes and took a few seconds to mutter a quick prayer before answering.

"You remember that conversation that we all had in the park about pairings?" Richoemon asked quietly.

"Yeah. What about it?"

Richoemon gulped. _This…is so difficult…_

"Um…the thing is…during the time that we've been back since our disappearance in the parking garage…Ryan has had a little…_problem_ I guess you could say. You're involved by the way…"

"Just spill it already!" Growled Rika angrily as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Ryansgotavoiceinhisheadtellinghimthathe'ssupposedtoloveyouandit'sdrivinghiminsane!"

Rika simply looked at the little, orange colored, tiger striped dinosaur, her expression that of bemusement.

"Is that all?"

"Uh…well," began Tapirmon, feeling that now was the appropriate time to chip in some information. "John checked it out earlier…"

Rika whirled on the little phantom digimon.

"_John_ knew this was coming?"

"Just hear me out, okay? After Ryan came back the script that got stuck on him when we arrived here awoke and it's trying to force him to comply with it! His resistance to it is causing a feedback that if left unresolved will eventually delete his character!"

Rika shook her head in confusion. She had accepted the fact that she was a fictional character pretty readily when she first heard about it, due in part to the scattered memories that came up every now and then as a result of contact with Ryan's digivice, but no matter how hard she tried it was still a lot to take in. The best that she could do now was push on.

"Why would he resist what the…script wants from him? I was under the impression that he already liked me…"

"Um…actually…" began Richoemon, scratching the back of his head nervously. "The way I remember it _you_ were the one who said that you cared about what happened to him. Ryan…he doesn't… uh…see you in _that…_er…way."

Rika stopped, feeling something pause inside of her. Did she just hear what she thought she just heard? Yes. Yes, she did…

_At least now it makes sense,_ thought Rika as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Okay. Now…how do we find him?"

Richoemon and Tapirmon blinked. "Wha…?"

"What do you mean _what?_ This thing has to be resolved or else he's dead, right? Tapirmon. You're the partner of an author. Any ideas as to where he might be?"

Tapirmon raised an eyebrow.

"Just because I'm partnered with an author doesn't necessarily mean that I know the inner-workings of story writing and the muse-to-plot ratio. Most authors don't even understand half of it anyways…"

"_Do_ you or do you _not?"_

Tapirmon flinched before finally nodding.

"He's a character that's bound by the script of the story. Odds are, he'll be drawn unconsciously to wherever the focal point of the chapter is going to be."

"In other words, _Vajramon_, right?"

"That's certainly within the realm of possibility…"

"All right. I'll give the others a call and let them know about the situation. Hopefully it'll get down the grapevine to John that something's gone wrong and he'll show up. In the meantime, Richoemon, this is where we put your sense of smell to the test!"

"Um…I'd hate to point this out, but I'm not as good as Guilmon…"

"Then we'll rely on him when we meet up with him and Gogglehead," said Rika as she took out her cell phone and began dialing Henry's number, getting the feeling that he would be the most reliable to reach at a moment like this given Takato's previous track record. As she did this Tapirmon looked over at Richoemon.

"Well…you heard her. Start sniffing."

"Ohhh…"

* * *

Ryan leaned against the alley wall as he fought to catch his breath. Shadows were already starting to descend as the sun began to set on the horizon. Closing his eyes Ryan slid down until he was in a sitting position and looked at his right hand. For a brief moment, it blurred and became as static before settling back to normal. 

_At least the voice has stopped being chatty for now,_ thought Ryan as he struggled to reclaim some energy so that he could resume his search for a Plot Hole. Some time had passed since he had left Rika, Richoemon, and Tapirmon behind, and now that he had put some distance between himself and the red haired, violet eyed Tamer he could at last get some peace and quiet to think and find a way out of this situation. Ryan brought out his digivice and flipped through its scanning function to see if there was some way that he could modify it for the purposes of easy tracking for such a phenomenon. He didn't think that it would work, seeing as how John wasn't able to pull off such a feat…

_"You know that you can't get rid of me that easily…"_

Ryan's digivice clattered on the ground noisily as he grabbed the sides of his head and gritted his teeth.

"Get…_out_…of my _head _damn it! I don't need this now!"

_"Hey. I'm just doing my job. You're the one who's not living up to your part of things. I don't get you. You OC's are usually glad to do something like this. Why aren't you?"_

_I already told you! I don't…_

_"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it, but I don't believe it. C'mon. Do you honestly think that she'll let you down? She's just another poor soul looking for someone to love her and you happen to fit the bill."_

_NO! That's character distortion! Rika is __**not**__ like that! She's not some Ice Queen who needs someone to thaw her! She's her own person! Why can't you see that?_

Ryan's whole body began to blur this time as the accumulated stress from dealing with the voice and the script began to take its toll on him. It felt as though things were tearing up inside of him. The whole world was starting to crumble now, and at any moment the ground was going to give beneath him, sending him tumbling into the Depths of Obscurity from which no character can escape. Only a miracle could save him now…

_"Because dude, it's an inner voice created by a teenager looking for an outlet to the drama in their life. What did you expect?"_

Ryan sat up suddenly as his eyes widened in surprise.

"Wha…Daisuke?"

_"Hey! Let's not forget me…"_

_V-Mon…_

_"You know, there __**is**__ a hyphen there…"_

_"Lay off V-Mon."_

_What are you guys doing here? I thought that I left you with Rika and the rest._

_"We hitched a ride with you. We can follow any character that we want if they're in our proximity. Otherwise we're stuck. It looked like you needed a helping hand…or rather a listening ear since we don't technically have hands right now."_

Ryan groaned and grabbed his digivice. His hand continued to blur for two seconds before finally settling back to normal. Ryan took a deep, calming breath before getting back to his feet. His body was shaking, and he felt exhausted too, but for now he was okay.

_So long as I don't run into Rika again I should be fine…provided that is that that stupid voice can shut up and stay shut up._

_"Not going to ha…"_

_"V-HEAD BUTT!"_

Ryan raised an eyebrow at the rather strange sounds of things crashing around in his head as V-Mon launched his attack inside his head, followed shortly thereafter by screams of pain.

_Okay…that's just a little too weird. I thought that you guys couldn't hear the inner-voice._

_"Um…well, it turns out that V-Mon and I had too much ear wax in our ears the first time around, so we…uh…"_

Ryan sweatdropped.

_That has got to be the most disgusting thing I have ever heard in my short existence, and there's been a few takers for that position. Congratulations. I just know that I'm going to get brain damage from this._

_"Uh…you're welcome I guess. Anyway, the inner-voice isn't totaled just so you know. As long as you have the script about you, it'll always be with you. What V-Mon did was only a temporary thing. Odds are, it'll be back by the time we get to the stadium to fight Vajramon."_

_Great. But I'm not headed towards the stadium._

_"Yeah you are," _said V-Mon. _"Didn't you notice? The path that you've been traveling has you headed in that direction. It's the script. No matter what you do, you'll end up there. And right now you're too close to the stadium to avoid turning around and getting the others. Something will keep interrupting you."_

_What sort of things?_

_"Wild digimon, crazy bystanders, out of control noodle carts. Maybe a Ranma ½ or a Card Captor Sakura crossover will inexplicably occur…if not both. I hear the Heartless from the Kingdom Hearts game is pretty popular with Demon Dayz."_

_Okay,_ thought Ryan as he turned his gaze over to the stadium, wondering if it was empty by now, and if so if he could get in. _I get it. _

Ryan took a moment to compose himself before looking down at his digivice. His brow furrowed as he looked back at the stadium. Briefly he wondered if Demon Dayz would appear this time. He felt sure that he would now. He was helpless this time by his own actions. The perfect time to strike. Demon Dayz wouldn't get a better opportunity.

_I think that it's time that we ended this,_ thought Ryan as he began to walk towards the stadium at a fast pace.

* * *

11 


	64. Chapter 64

Disclaimer: nomigiD now t'nod I

The Four Seasons

Chapter: 63

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen

**Much Ado about Fiction Revisited: **Part 7

"I see," said Henry to Rika on the other end of his home phone. "Got it. We'll be there as soon as we can."

Henry clicked it off and turned to John, who looked at him expectantly.

"I wasn't expecting a call from her this soon," he said pointedly.

"Yeah," agreed Terriermon sagely. "So where's the apocalypse? I mean, it's kinda early for Vajramon to be showing up."

"Ryan's run off and he left Richoemon behind," replied Henry, ignoring his partner for the moment. "She thinks he's going towards the stadium where we're going to be tonight. Well, she says that Richoemon thinks so."

John frowned.

"Now why would he…? Oh." John's eyes widened as realization struck him. _"Oh!"_

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like the sound of that?"  
"Because it means trouble's head."

"Terriermon…"

"What? It's usually what happens, right? We've got a problem and he suddenly figured out why! What's there to scold me about?"

"Momentai you two," shushed John irritably, causing Terriermon to pout at the use of his catchphrase. "It is true that Ryan has some…difficulties going on with him right now. Shit. I should have seen this coming. I knew Rika would be walking around in a dress but I didn't think that the two of them would actually meet…"

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" exclaimed Terriermon, his eyes bulging in their sockets in surprise. "What's this about a dress?! A dress _and_ Rika's wearing it?!"

John looked at Henry.

"Henry? Your rebuttal?"

"Terriermon…"

Terriermon's ears all but wilted. He could tell that the use of his name was code for 'shut up'.

"Let's focus here," continued John. "I don't have time to go into all the details, but suffice to say that it has to do with this fics script having attached itself to Ryan. Those two have become the central pairing of this fic, and Ryan's resisting it. Because he's resisting…well, the results aren't doing him any favors. He must have ran because he was put in a position where the script was causing him trouble. If that's the case…" John looked out Henry's window, his eyes starting to become frantic. _"Shit._ If Demon Dayz catches him on his own, without protection, he'll be killed. I don't even know if that muse will be able to protect him this time. Despite what Ryan said, that first time might have been a fluke, and Demon Dayz will probably be prepared."

Making a frustrated sound, John closed his eyes and raised his hands.

"I'm going to have to take some drastic measures here. This could cause me to use up all of my remaining energy."

As he said those words, two spheres of red and blue light materialized in his palms.

"Go," he said, looking down at them. "Protect Ryan once you find him at _all_ costs save to canon. We can't afford any damage here."

The two orbs swiveled as though nodding and then launched themselves into the air, phasing through the window and disappearing in a sparkle of light. As soon as they were gone, John's body became transparent and he collapsed onto the floor.

"John!" exclaimed Henry at the sight. Gathering what remaining strength he had, the author Avatar gripped the half-Chinese Tamer by the shoulder and looked him in the eye.

"Get…get down to the stadium. The plot is starting to focus there. It won't be long now… Remember…just because the script says something…just because an _inner voice_ says something, doesn't mean that you have to listen to it. You're a Canon Character. You are an existence beyond this story."

Henry stared at the author, unsure what to make of the author's words. Seeing him hesitate, John forcefully shoved him towards the door.

"GO! The plot waits on no character!"

Hearing the urgency in the Author's voice Terriermon leapt onto his partner's head.

"You heard him! Let's get a move on! We've got a bull fight to pick!"

"All right! John, will you be all right on your own?"

John wanted to shout at him for hesitating again, but a calmer part of him realized that he would not leave until he had some assurance that he would be fine.

_Sometimes a lie can be more helpful than the truth,_ thought John distractedly before giving Henry a grin to alleviate his worries.

"I'll be fine. I'll be waiting for you when this is all over. Okay?"

Henry's gray eyes searched John's for a moment before he finally nodded, and with not a moment to spare, he raced out of the room, heading for the battle that lay ahead.

_It's going to be a tough one,_ thought John. _No question. Demon Dayz is not going to let a chance like this slip by. He may have been quiet since the incident with Sandiramon, but the situation's changed. The cat is out of the proverbial bag._

Looking down at his hand, John stared at the wood grain that was visible through it.

_I guess this is it. After this, I won't be able to affect things anymore. Ryan's going to be on his own from here on out. Renamon…I'm sorry. You're going to be a little mad at me for this…

* * *

_

Renamon bounded through the air, her senses extending outwards as she caught the familiar sense of her target. For the past few days, she had been following Vajramon, the Deva-ox digimon that had attacked Shinjuku and survived Rapidmon's assault. Shortly after the battle, he had approached her, desiring to talk, and she followed him to hear what he had to say.

At least, that was the scenario that she was _meant_ to follow as far as her own memories regarding the episode and John's own scanning of the chapter's planning went. All told, it looked to be a repeat…literally, but only to an extent. After all, what happened off screen was left a mystery to the fans, forcing them to extrapolate from this episode's upcoming scene to fill in the gaps. Aiming for the stadium, Renamon both wanted to smile and frown. On one hand she wanted to praise the writer of this particular fic for their attention to detail and plausibility. On the other, she felt frustrated, as that very same focus decreased their chances of finding the force of fics known as the _Plot Hole_ through which John theorized they could escape through. She had been hoping that this scene would provide her with one such Plot Hole.

_John said that it wouldn't be wise to depend on that hope, as it would be very small. I'm starting to believe that he is correct. After all, we've been in numerous off-screen scenes when the story didn't focus on us directly and not a single Plot Hole, large or small, appeared._

Deciding that it would be wisest to focus on the here and now, Renamon descended towards the mass of fog that rapidly beginning to fill the stadium in which battle would shortly commence. How much time was remaining before the Tamers arrived?

_Soon._ That was the only answer that seemed appropriate. She could already make out the form of Vajramon appearing in the digital field. Only…

_Something is wrong,_ the vulpine digimon thought, landing within the stands and taking in the bio-emerging Deva. _He's not supposed to be here yet. I should still have more time, so why…?_

_ "Why?"_ laughed a voice from within the fog. _"Why ask why? The script may not call for it, but the script went off base quite some time ago."_

The sound of steel being unsheathed filled the stadium and Vajramon, decked out in black armor and had an eerie red glow in his eyes, stepped forth, ready for battle. Renamon felt her hackles rise and she got into a defensive stance.

"You!"

_"Me. Demon Dayz. How good of you to remember me again, Renamon, no thanks to that author boyfriend of yours. Now, how about we reset the program? I've waited a number of episodes for this, and it's time to return this story to what it should be."_

Crimson eyes flashed and Vajramon, possessed by Demon Dayz, swept his two battle swords to the side, sending a cascade of crescent shaped energy waves surging towards Renamon. The vulpine digimon easily avoided the attack, disappearing from view.

_I've got to warn Rika and the others!_ She thought, already moving to teleport herself away from the battle zone. As strong as she was, she knew from experience that she lacked the power necessary to confront the Deva directly, possessed or not.

Suddenly Renamon gave a surprised shout as she struck something, and rebounded back into the stadium. Somersaulting through the air, she landed on her feet, staring up at the sky in utter bewilderment. Just _what_ had happened?

_"Quite simple,"_ spoke Vajramon in the voice of Demon Dayz as he advanced on her. _"Ryan could explain it to you if he were here—and he will be soon, count on it. You are trapped in the action zone of the plot. This is the Culmination Point, and its pull is irresistible to all involved characters. They are forbidden to leave until it is concluded."_ Demon Dayz raised his blade and its edge glinted dangerously. _"You are a mouse trapped in a cage. Everyone in. _I _choose who leaves and in what condition."_

Cleaving his blades through the air once more, dark energy cut a swath towards the entrapped fox, and she leapt out of the way just in time. Rolling to the side, she was on her feet in an instant, fists at the ready. Demon Dayz merely eyed her with a gaze that mockingly applauded her. A small grin drew a scar across his face.

"_I _so_ hope that you enjoy your stay."

* * *

_

A/N: It's been…almost two years since I last touched this story, and after Less than Human I wasn't sure if I wanted to dust it off and take another crack at it. However, it kind of nagged at me that it sat there unfinished. Plus, seeing Keyo Red-Angel of Hope popping back into the writing biz helped as he liked this fic, and it irked me even more to have it sitting around without a conclusion. So, after much thought I blew off the dust, reread a few chapters and sunk my hands back into this story. The chapter's a little short, but hopefully that'll change as I get my sea legs back under me. I doubt that updates will be as rapid as they used to, as my focus is shifting into other avenues of writing, but I'll occasionally move back to this to change gears and have some fun. Hope this chapter was enjoyable, and I apologize to anyone and everyone who have been waiting for an update to this fic.

Which reminds me that I still need to finish up 'The Dreamer'… Oops.

'Till next chapter.

-Crazyeight

* * *

3


	65. Chapter 65

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Seriously.

The Four Seasons

Chapter: 64

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen

**Much Ado about Fiction Revisited:** Part 8

Ryan frowned as he approached the stadium, his green eyes spying a strange, crystal clear dome surrounding it on all sides. Oddly enough no one else seemed to have noticed it, which led him to conclude only one thing.

"Show time," he said quietly to himself. With that he broke into a jog. His heart leapt into his throat as he did so, and not because of the increase in his pace.

_"Hey, dude,"_ said Daisuke from the corners of his mind. _"What's going on?"_

"It's something to do with the fic," replied Ryan. "Back when I died during the Fable War, my eyesight got all bizarre, remember?"

_"Yeah. Isn't that why you were picked to look for Plot Holes?"_

"Right," nodded Ryan. "It was because I could see them. I can see things in a fic that aren't visible to other characters, and right now I'm seeing…jeez. What _am_ I seeing?"

"You really want to know?" giggled a voice from above Ryan. Before he could even react, a weight crashed down on top of his head, nearly causing the brown haired character to topple over in surprise. Managing to keep his balance, Ryan spun around and reached up to grab whatever it was that had landed on him.

"Hey!" scolded the owner of the voice on his head. "Watch the ears!"

"Terriermon?!" Ryan's eyes widened in surprise, but the voice giggled.

"Close, but wrong. Remember me? The Muse? Don't tell me that you forgot already."

Dodging the boy's hands, the long eared rabbit leapt down to the ground and turned to face him, a wide grin on his face. Ryan scowled at him and placed a hand on one hip in annoyance.

"Hard to forget you. You flattened an Ultimate level, author possessed Deva while I was pinned to a wall by a poisonous axe."

"Venom Axe," corrected the Muse, shaking a finger at him. "By the way, what do you think you're doing?"

"What's it look like? And why are you here, bothering me? I'm on a mission."

"That's true. Fortunately your trip towards the stadium is ordained by the Script on you. What you're planning though, isn't." 'Terriermon' took a step towards Ryan and fixed him with a hard expression. "You know you can't deviate from the script. If you follow through with what I think you're planning, the whole story might fall apart."

"Damn shame."

"I don't think you quite understand your situation here. This isn't like the Fanfic Domain, where if a fic falls apart the characters have the website to fall back on. You could end up being erased for sure!"

"Do you think the Canon Characters are going to be affected?" asked Ryan. "They're different from me and John, and John's an author."

The little bunny-muse crossed his arms over his chest. "Clearly you don't know how the Fanfic Domain has changed you all. _Especially_ the Canon Characters. But if that doesn't get you, then how about your partner? He's an OC like you, you know. I know you don't care much about yourself—what with you being all upset about being an OC and everything—but he's a different story. Pun unintended of course."

"Thanks for giving me something else to worry about." Ryan turned towards the stadium and gave it a contemplative glare. "But I don't think I have a choice in the matter anymore."

The Terriermon Muse nodded. "The Script. It's pulling you towards the stadium. If I remember correctly, this is supposed to be a big development in this story's romance angle. A turning point."

"Whatever." Ryan waved off the digital Muse. "What I need is a way to beat that author. Now that you're here, I think I've got it."

'Terriermuse' raised an eyebrow. "You expect me to trash Demon Dayz like I did before?"

"Why not? You know he's got it in for me. He'll take out anyone in his way too."

"Point for you there. He's not as vested in this story as his other partners-in-crime. But if the story is following the script, then there's not much that I can do. That's why he's possessed Vajramon this time around, because attacking you fits into the script for this chapter. When he possessed Sandiramon and attacked you, that wasn't in the script. This time, it is. He knows what he's doing."

_"Loop hole?"_ asked Daisuke's voice.

"Pretty much. And as long as he doesn't kill any of the other mains, he'll still be in the right. All he needs is that one moment to get you before I can step in to stop him."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "You're a muse and you can't stop him in the second it takes to kill me?"

"Hey. I may be powerful, but there's a limit over what Muses can do. Ultimately the author translates our vision into reality, and has the final say in the editorial process—what gets put down onto paper. Things are a bit different in the Fanfic Domain since the Awakening, but the rules haven't changed much. Vampires and such get days off on Halloween, and we Muses must take a step back in the final product."

"…Seriously. A Joss Whedon reference?"

"The fate of the fic and all of its characters are on your shoulders, and _that's_ what you're complaining about?"

"Among other things," grumbled Ryan. Terriermuse shook his head.

"Do you have anything else better to do? What does Rika see in you?"

"Author influence I'm sure." Ryan tightened one hand into a fist and returned his attention to the stadium ahead. This conversation wasn't getting him anywhere. He had to get to the stadium and…do what, exactly? Originally he planned on just surrendering to Demon Dayz…or spit in his face, he wasn't quite sure which as either would have caused an end to the story and put him out of his misery. Ryan sighed and hung his head dejectedly.

_That's just giving up. Surrender aside; it doesn't solve anything except my own problems. For everyone else, it puts them back at square one, and without my eyesight, they can't find Plot Holes. John…I don't know how much time he has left since he's not directly connected to the story or his account. He's the best bet that everyone here has in getting out of this stupid story, but he also needs help in that, and with everyone's memories messed up, there's only so much that they can do before those rogue authors rewrite them again._

_ "You know,"_ came the voice of V-Mon from within his head, _"we could have told you that."_

_ "Yeah," _chuckled Daisuke. _"But we thought it'd be cooler if you figured it all out on your own."_

_ Amazing what having a little peace and quiet in your brain can do for you when you're not having a stupid voice yap at you all the time._ Ryan thought for a moment before amending,_ present company excluded._

_ "Hey, we were the ones who got it to shut up,"_ said V-Mon proudly.

_I know. That's why I said 'present company excluded'._

"I'm still not happy about this," said Ryan turning back towards the Terriermuse. "But let's put that issue aside for now."

"Are you going to abide by the script?" asked Terriermuse.

"I'd rather not. The whole premise is kind of stupid, and the Inner Voice thing isn't doing me any favors…when it's conscious that is. But I can't face Demon Dayz on my own. I don't suppose that there's a chance you can create bodies for Daisuke and V-Mon to help me out. I…seem to have left my partner behind."

"Can't help you with Daisuke, but I think I can whip up something for V-Mon. We'll call it a _coincidental biomerge._ Since your digivice's abilities are still largely unknown, we can just say that it links up to him and enables digivolving. What do you say?"

"It's a start," nodded Ryan. "I…guess I owe you some thanks for helping me out."

Terriermuse waved him off.

"I'm not doing this for you. Demon Dayz and the rest just don't have any respect for the story or the characters. If they did, none of this would have happened."

"Well, thanks anyways, I guess."

"Sure thing. Now…come on out, V-Mon!"

A mist suddenly appeared in front of the pair, and from out of it walked a familiar, blue-scaled reptile with a wide, thick forehead and a v-shaped mark on it. He grinned a toothy grin at Ryan and nodded.

"Good to be back in the flesh again. That whole disembodied thing was just plain weird."

_"I don't know," _said Daisuke. _"I think it's pretty cool."_

"Typical Daisuke," said Ryan distractedly. "Put him in a blender and he'd still find it interesting. All right. Now what's that dome thing around the stadium?"

"Nothing that'll stop you from getting in," said Terriermuse. "It's just an Action Zone. Characters just can't leave it once they've entered. Nothing major."

"Sounds nasty either way."

"It can be. Renamon's in there now, getting a taste of it. She's fighting Demon Dayz too. What's the saying? 'Welcome to Thunderdome?'"

"Crap."

***

Renamon rolled across the ground as she narrowly avoided Demon Dayz broadsword. Coming to a halt, she leapt to her feet and into the air, sending shards of crystal flying at the author-possessed digimon. The shards had no effect against the rampaging oxen as he raised his twin swords and deftly deflected them, barely even slowing down in his advance on the vulpine digimon. Renamon retreated, her azure eyes narrowing as she considered her options.

_I can't leave the Action Zone,_ she thought. _And it would seem that this particular scene has occurred far sooner than it should be, otherwise the others would have shown up by now to lend assistance._

The situation did not look good. She lacked the power to oppose Vajramon normally, due to the vast difference in their levels and power. Possessed by the author, Demon Dayz, she could only guess at what his strength could be now. She looked him over, searching for some sign of a weakness that she could exploit to buy herself some time.

There wasn't much that she saw that could help her. He appeared to be identical to Vajramon as she last encountered him during their battle with him and Pajiramon. Four-legged, heavily muscled and armored, and bearing two long swords…the only major difference that she could see was that his armor coloring leaned heavily towards black and blue instead of the orange and bronze that she remembered. This, at least as far as she could tell, made very little difference in his strength or his attacks, but with authors, she could not afford to be at all careful.

John had helped her recall that much.

_But surely there must be something that I can do,_ she thought, her mind desperately trying to figure out a plan of action. _Even giants have their weak spots. So far he seems to be restricting himself to just Vajramon's attacks. It may be that he cannot utilize his author abilities to their fullest extent. Of course, given the power levels, he won't even need to use them. Not yet anyway…_

Renamon felt her fur stand on end as she remembered the author's promise to rewrite her. She refused to let that happen to her. Come what may, but she would not let Demon Dayz or his partners have their way with her mind, or with her love towards John.

_John…_ Renamon drew her paws into fists and raised them in defiance of Demon Dayz.

"Come on, big boy," she taunted. "Let's dance."

"Oooh…" Demon Dayz grinned at her. "Feisty. But then, that's what many a fan likes about you."

"Only one will I ever share my heart with," she replied sternly. The author shrugged his oxen shoulders.

"I for one do not care for who you fall in love with. But I made a promise with my comrades to back their stories and beliefs, and they did the same for me. I won't fail them. This story _will_ be rewritten, and the story will be as it was meant to be."

"We shall see." Renamon's eyes narrowed defiantly. Demon Dayz nodded and charged towards her, blades extended. Renamon jumped into the air and fired another flurry of shining, crystal shards at him, only to be deflected by a swift raise of the author's sword. Slashing outwards with his remaining weapon, he turned its flat end and slammed it into the kitsune digimon, sending her crashing to the ground with a cry. Through reflexes engrained into her through her long life of training she rolled again with the blow and was on her feet in seconds, casting a single crystal shard from her paw. It drove through the air like a spear, faster than the eye could follow—and eye indeed, as her attack struck true upon Demon Dayz, causing him to stagger violently and drop his sword, one hand clawing at his face in a shout of surprise.

_Well…it would seem that I found one of this giant's weak points… Let's see if I can't find another._

Dashing forward, Renamon phased out of view, reappearing beneath Demon Dayz centaurian stomach. Kicking outwards, she wrapped her legs around one of his legs and twisted, sending him toppling over with a resounding crash. Flipping upwards to avoid his body, Renamon landed a short distance away, her ears twitching questioningly.

"That was too easy…" she murmured to herself, only to be interrupted by a wave of energy slamming into her side. Giving a cry she collapsed, and immediately began struggling to her feet. Unfortunately for her, she was unable to recover quickly enough, and Demon Dayz slammed a foot into her back, pinning her to the ground. Leering over her, the dark author chuckled mercilessly.

"Finally got you," he said, raising his sword. Lines of code ran the length of the blade. Renamon had an idea that it wouldn't take Henry or his father to understand the beast's intent. "Say goodbye to your old life," continued Demon Dayz as a glow overtook the weapon, "and say hello to your _new…"_

The blade began to descend as he kept speaking, but both he and the blade didn't reach their target ends. With a bellow of _X-Laser,_ an intense beam of energy shaped like an X surged through the air and crashed into Demon Dayz, throwing him off of Renamon. Before the oxen could even recover, a giant, blue scaled reptile with white wings and a single, steel blade rising from his snout descended upon him, and began laying into him with a series of lightning fast punches. Blinking her eyes in both confusion and gratefulness, Renamon rose to her feet, wondering where the ExVeemon could have come from.

"What is going on?" she wondered aloud before her ears twitched again at the sound of approaching footsteps. Turning she saw the OC Ryan McCabe running towards her with an all too familiar, long eared rabbit dog digimon riding shotgun on top of his head.

"My head is not a stagecoach," she heard him complaining to Terriermon…

_No._ Renamon's eyes narrowed as she regarded the Terriermon._ That doesn't feel like him. It feels..different. Almost like that…Muse that we encountered in the subway tunnel during the fight with Sandiramon._

As though he heard her thoughts, the Terriermon turned to look at her and winked one dark eye, giggling excitedly.

"Hey, Renamon," Ryan said as he slowed to a stop. "What's going on?"

"Battle," she replied pointedly, indicating the two combating digimon with a nod of her head. "Or did you not notice?"

"Uh…right. I take it Demon Dayz infected another Deva?"

"Yes. I don't know what else it may have done, but so far he appears to only have similar abilities to Vajramon…save for the ability to rewrite characters, as he tried to do to me just now."

"Well, he's going to have to be a lot more careful about that now that I'm around," said Terriermuse, hopping down from Ryan's head. "He won't be able to change the script too much. Not unless he wants me to stay out of this fight."

Ryan cringed when he saw Demon Dayz finally rally a counter attack against XVeemon and throw him to the ground. The dragon warrior rolled to the side, barely avoiding the author's sword thrust. As the weapon stabbed itself into the dirt, XVeemon countered again by kicking at his legs. Demon Dayz dashed to the side, ripping his sword free from the ground and sending an energy wave surging towards him, forcing XVeemon to jump into the air to escape it.

"I won't ask what's going on here," said Renamon, "or why you have a change in partner, but you may want to consider evolving him to the next level if you hope to stand a chance. Vajramon is an Ultimate level, and you don't have type advantage over him."

"Uh…yeah. About that. Um…I haven't unlocked Ultimate level digivolution in my story yet, so I have an evolution lock on my digivice."

"Not even I can break that," said Terriermuse, folding his arms across his chest. "And I'm a Muse."

_Just as I suspected,_ thought Renamon. "I don't suppose you could intervene in some manner then."

"Well…that's a tricky thing. I can't lift the lock on Ryan's digivice because I'm not contracted to his author, so that's a no-go. I can't intervene directly unless Demon Dayz does something outside the area of the script, or tries to break it entirely, so you can give up any hope of me tussling with him again. That doesn't leave me with much."

"There's still got to be something…" growled Ryan. "Daisuke?" he asked the thin air. "Any ideas on how to help your partner?"

_"Um…well, Terriermuse said something earlier about your digivice not having enough…uh…what was it again?"_

"He said it was still unknown," said Ryan, clapping a hand to his face in exasperation. "That's how he was able to create a bond for V-Mon."

Renamon raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh? Then I don't suppose that he could create new rules for it then."

Terriermuse tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Yeah. I don't see why now. The guards on your digivice for that area are a lot easier to get around than your evolution lock. I think I can whip something up. The thing is, if we do too many changes, it can cause damage to your character, since you're not contracted officially to Demon Dayz or any of the others in his troop."

A loud cry of pain from XVeemon tore across the air as a crescent shaped wave of energy slammed into his side, cancelling out his attack and sending him colliding with the stadium seats behind him.

"It's a lot better than the alternative," mooted Ryan, raising his digivice. "Get to it."

"Okay dokie!" Terriermuse grinned and raised his ears. Immediately they extended themselves and made contact with Ryan's digivice, enveloping it with a glowing aura of gold and green. Ryan felt a strange sense of power flush through his body, causing him to tighten his grip on the digivice. Static electricity crossed his palm and a beam of light shot out from his digivice's screen, connecting with XVeemon. The dragon warrior's body tensed suddenly as new power surged through him. His arms flexed and pulsed and curved blades snapped free from his forearms. Looking down at them in surprise and up at Demon Dayz rampaging towards him, it didn't take him long to decide on how to use them.

Raising them, the blades locked on Demon Dayz sword, bringing it to a dead halt. Surging to his feet, XVeemon drove Demon Dazy back, forcing the weapon to the side and tried a slashing attack at his face.

"YEEEAAAHHH!!!" Cried Ryan, pumping one fist into the air excitedly. "WAY TO GO…"

Demon Dazy would have none of that however, and he quickly ducked beneath the blow and slammed a fist home in XVeemon's gut before continuing with an uppercut that sent XVeemon flying into the stadium seats once again.

"…XVee…mon…" Ryan's cry of exuberance died down upon seeing how effortlessly his 'partner' had been defeated in spite of his on-the-spot enhancement.

"It's…XV-Mon…" groaned the azure dragon, rubbing his head painfully. "I'm…the original…remember? Emphasis on…the hyphen…"

Terriermuse _tsked_ in disappointment.

"Well, what did you expect? That wasn't exactly much of an upgrade. All we did was catch the guy off guard. We need something with a little more _oomph_ to have an effect on him. The way things are going, I'm thinking Calvin Ball."

"Somehow I don't think Time Fracture Wickets are going to be much use here," said Ryan, scratching his head as he wracked his brains for something new. "Um…how about an energy cannon around XVee…" Ryan paused and corrected himself. "…_XV-Mon's_ arm? Like what Gorillamon has. Didn't he need a Dark Spiral to be controlled or something?"

"I thought you didn't watch the show."

"I did…once. Chris made me…"

"Enough of this!" growled Renamon in frustration. "We don't have time for you two to be arguing over episodes. Just come up with a plan! I'll try to help XV-Mon." Dashing forward, Renamon raced towards the battle scene, raising her arms to prepare another _Diamond Storm_ attack. Given how she had affected Demon Dayz last time, she didn't think she would stand much of a chance in turning the tides, but she hoped that she at least would manage to be enough of a distraction for XV-Mon to do something useful. She leapt into the air, an orb of light glowing in front of her.

**"Diamond Sto—!"**

Renamon's eyes widened suddenly as she felt a shock course through her system. Something…she felt something _leaving _her! Something was departing. Something _important._ Instinctively following its course in her mind, she saw the image of John, sitting on the floor in Henry's apartment, his body fading from view.

_John…_

_ "Renamon…I'm sorry. You're going to be a little mad at me for this…"  
John! No!_

Renamon was interrupted from her thoughts as a blast of energy struck her in midair, sending her careening to the ground with a brutal crash. She pushed herself off the ground in seconds, her bewildered mind trying to make sense of what she just felt while trying to focus on the battle at hand. Demon Dayz was racing towards her, codes of data spiraling around his sword blade.

**"Energy Cannon!"**

A stream of lightning burst across the stadium, impacting Demon Dayz with ferocious force. Bringing his sword to bare, he used the weapons blade as a shield, dispersing the attack with a quick swipe. With heavy breaths, XV-Mon staggered to his feet, raising a massive cannon fixed to his forearm and taking aim at the author.

"I'm…not done…with you yet," he rasped. Demon Dayz narrowed his eyes at XV-Mon.

"Damnation," he growled under his breath. "I don't have time for you."

_"Make time,"_ XV-Mon insisted, a bright glow appearing at the tip of the cannon. "'Cause this fight ends with you."

Hefting his blade, Demon Dayz smirked. "We shall see whether it ends with me…or _him."_

Spinning on a dime, Demon Dayz launched his sword straight at Ryan. Bright energy formed around it and carved a trench in the ground as it surged towards the OC.

**"Rapid…FIRE!!!"**

Twin missiles shrieked through the sky and collided with the sword in midair, knocking it spiraling out of Ryan's path. Looking up with a bewildered expression on his face, Ryan saw the form of Rapidmon descending into the stadium, rocket launcher arms primed and ready to deliver another onslaught of mayhem and destruction in the name of 'Momentai'. Next to him, Terriermuse giggled.

"You know…I never thought I looked better," he said approvingly.

"That's not even you," replied Ryan, but the Muse waved him off.

"Technicality. All right." Terriermuse looked over at the fuming Demon Dayz. "It looks like this fight is swinging into full gear. Ready for the grand finale?"

Demon Dayz ground his teeth together and gripped his hands into tight fists as every muscle in his body trembled furiously. Terriermuse smirked.

"I'll take that as a 'no'. XV-Mon?"

**"Energy Cannon!"

* * *

**

8


	66. Chapter 66

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Pyro the Harbinger of Chaos for being the 200th reviewer for this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

The Four Seasons

Chapter: 65

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen

**Coliseum Finish! Part: 1**

"Almost there!" said Richoemon, sniffing the air excitedly. Next to him, Tapirmon looked at him worriedly.

"Are you sure? You said that your nose isn't as good at tracking as Guilmon…"

"So I led us in circles at first," huffed Richoemon as he crossed his claws over his chest in annoyance. "I still picked up his scent, didn't I?"

"Well…yeah, but…"

"Can it," interceded Rika, her gaze sharply focused on the path ahead of the trio. "We already know where Ryan's likely headed, and that's the stadium up ahead." Rika narrowed her violet eyes as she gazed at the stadium ahead of them. She wasn't sure, but she could have sworn that she heard an explosion from its direction.

_ Does that mean that the fight's already started? John said that today was the day that Vajramon would show up, so…maybe…ugh. _Rika shook her head, silently berating herself. _Get a hold of yourself and get moving. The longer we out here, the more of a chance that something bad is going to happen._

Rika glanced over her shoulder, spying an all too familiar van. She had noticed it earlier, slowly following her, parking, and making enough rounds around the same block that she was certain it was following her. She was sure that it belonged to the government agency that she, Takato, and Henry first encountered when Mihiramon attacked. It _had_ to be them, as she was sure that they were the only prominent group tasked with tracking digimon in the area.

_John never mentioned any other group except Tamers, Hypnos, and the Devas as being involved at this point in our…_series. Rika winced once again at the thought, but she quickly brushed it away. _Enough people have seen me walking around with these two bozos and we haven't been stopped by a single cop so far._ Rika wasn't sure if that was a blessing or not, though she was forced to admit that it leant a great deal of credibility to Takato's ability to simply walk around with Guilmon and not end up in any trouble. That aside, she could see that they were in for some trouble if something wasn't done soon.

"We need to lose those guys," Rika said aloud, continuing onward. "Tapirmon. If I remember right, you've got some abilities to mess around with people's minds, right?"

"Yes," Tapirmon responded. "In fact, one of my species in season Four, Frontier, was capable of manipulating the Legendary Warrior of Ice into attacking his allies via nightmare. It's not mind control so much as it is subconscious manipulation…"

"What's the difference?"

"Not sure," admitted Tapirmon. "But from what I've seen my target normally has to be asleep for it to be most effective. That's the problem with not having a whole lot of screen time. I'm forced to rely on my Wiki profile for most of my stats, and we all know how _that_ works with editable information."

"Right." Rika tapped her thumb against her teeth thoughtfully as tension built up in her. Should she lose the government agents or just keep on going regardless?

_I feel like I'm being led into a trap. There could be guys hiding behind a corner ready to grab us and we wouldn't even know it. Richoemon's not exactly a blood hound…or Guilmon for that matter. Where's Gogglehead with his Dinoboy when you need them?_

"I don't know if you guys noticed, but we're being followed. I'm thinking by Hypnos."

"And you're thinking that I can come up with something to throw them off the trail, right? Hmmm…" Tapirmon tapped his tusks. "I think I can come up with something. Where are the guys in question?"

There's a van behind us…"

"The one that's been making loops around us? Those government guys really know how to be non-obvious with their undercover duties. All right, let's see…" Tapirmon's eyes took on a golden glow as he focused on the van in question. **"Nightmare…Syndro—**gah!" Tapirmon let out a cry of surprise as electricity arced around his body, causing him to jerk and collapse to the ground.

"Tapirmon!" cried out Richoemon in surprise as the electricity continued to dance across Tapirmon's body.

"What happened?" asked Rika, eyes wide. The lightning dance was starting to die down, leaving the dream digimon a quivering mass of fur on the ground.

"I-I don't know," he gasped. "S-Something went haywire while I was drawing on John's energy. Cripes…what _was_ that?!"

A loud explosion resounded through the air, and Rika looked up just in time to catch a plume of smoke rising from the stadium. Her violet eyes set themselves into a hard edge.

"Looks like we don't have time to look into it. Trouble finally found itself a playground. Come on." Scooping up Tapirmon into her arms, Rika took off at a run, with Richoemon following rapidly behind. Glancing over her shoulder, Rika wasn't at all surprised to see that the van resumed following them.

_Terrific…_ she mused, gritting her teeth together. _Renamon…Ryan…I hope you two are taking care of yourselves in there.

* * *

_

Within the van, a black suited man wearing dark shades was speaking into a cell phone.

"Yes, Yamaki. The targets are on the move again, this time at speed. They are heading towards the bio-emergence. Should I stop them?"

_"No,"_ said the head of Hypnos on the other end. _"They may be useful in containing the situation. Keep on them but don't get involved. I'm interested in knowing what these children are capable of doing. I'll be there shortly to further observe them."_

"Acknowledged sir," said the agent. Hanging up, he returned his attention to the young Tamer as she raced down the streets towards the stadium. "Get ready everyone," he said to the agents in the back of the vehicle. "We're heading towards the disturbance."

"Yes sir," came the accompanying acknowledgements as they resumed trailing their targets.

* * *

V-Mon lay in a crumpled heap on the ground, groaning softly while behind him Ryan looked on, his mind racing to think of something…_anything_ that he could do to turn the tide. Unfortunately, by all accounts, the tide had already reached its destined conclusion. The author-possessed Vajramon, formerly known as Demon Dayz, stood triumphantly over the defeated Rookie, completely and utterly unscathed, a testament to how badly the remainder of the battle had gone. Rapidmon, at the very least, was in better shape than Daisuke's partner, but the scratches that rent his body armor, coupled with the missing shoulder guard told stories all their own as to the ferocity of the struggle. Something that Henry himself was now adding credence to as he spoke.

"This is…impossible…"

Ryan swallowed. He had to agree. Out of all the digimon in the digital world, Rapidmon was one of the fastest in existence, and had so far proven himself more than capable of outmatching Devas thanks to his speed. Yet this battle had thus far proven to be the antithesis to Rapidmon's advantages. He more than matched Rapidmon's speed. He _overtook_ Rapidmon at just about every opportunity, tearing into him with ease and taking apart his attacks before they could get a chance to do any serious damage.

_Someone's learned after he last got bombed,_ thought Ryan. Looking down at his digivice, he pushed his mind to think of some way to turn this battle around. Unfortunately for him, with V-Mon out of commission there wasn't much of a chance that he could do anything. Without a partner digimon available, he was, for all intents and purposes, lacking in the ability to present himself as anything more than just another target to shoot at.

_Somehow I'm getting the feeling that leaving Richoemon behind was a very bad thing to do…_

"Still standing?" asked Demon Dayz through Vajramon. "I'm surprised."

"What's so surprising about me fighting?" asked Rapidmon. "I'm always spoiling for a good fight. _Especially_ if it gets Henry in trouble…"

"Terriermon…"

"…As long as I can do it without his parents finding out about me," amended Rapidmon, causing Henry to groan behind him.

_"Terriermon…"_

"Momentai, Henry! Just trying to lighten the situation. I mean, I am getting my butt kicked here. Hey, Ryan? You want to think about running away now? It'd be in your best interest for, you know, survival."

"Can't," replied Ryan. "We're in an Action Zone and they don't allow characters to leave a scene unless they're unimportant to the storyline's advancement."

"Oh…" Rapidmon grimaced beneath his helm. "I guess that means that Henry and I can't make a run for it either, huh?"

"Terriermon!"

"Sorry!"

"Momentai, you guys," said Terriermuse cheerfully as he clambered onto Ryan's head and settled himself down. "Just trust in the plot, and everything will be fine. Now, I do believe that we have a story to get back to…?"

Rapidmon glanced out of the corner of his eye at his counterpart.

"You know…normally I'd find it pretty cool that you look like me, but right now you're kind of annoying."

"Are we having a 'pot calling the kettle black' moment, here?" asked Henry sarcastically. Terriermuse coughed loudly.

"Action, please…"

Demon Dayz snorted and advanced towards the green plated, Ultimate level cyborg.

"No…I suppose that I shouldn't find it surprising that _you_ are still fighting, Rapidmon. I've seen your season enough to know what lengths you'll go in order to defend those close to you. But I _am_ surprised about your partner. After all, because of the way that the script was changed because of _his_ presence," Demon Dayz gestured one sword in Ryan's direction for emphasis, "his relationship with young Katou is compromised. Love triangles are messy, _messy_ affairs, and he is forced into competition with one of his closest friends. If the OC is surrendered and the script restored, he won't have to worry about that. Things will…be as they were meant to be."

Henry looked as though someone had just struck him across the face. Gray eyes lanced up at the Deva's face before narrowing angrily. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cards. Seeing this, Demon Dayz rushed forward and swung his swords in upward arcs, crushing their edges brutally upon Rapidmon's shoulders. The android digimon cried out in pain as the weapons clove their way through his arms, sending the two limbs crashing to the ground where they evaporated in a flurry of sparkling data. Glowing brightly, Rapidmon's body shrunk until Terriermon, battered, bruised, but otherwise regaining his arms from the collapse and restructuring of data, fell, breathing heavily.

"Terriermon!' cried out Henry. Before he could do anything else, Demon Dayz shot past the fallen digimon, aiming for where Ryan stood.

That was all the reason that Terriermuse needed to finally act.

Launching himself off Ryan's head, the digital-muse smashed into the author's face, horn-first, causing Demon Dayz to cry out in pain from the impact. Staggering backwards, he slashed outwards with his sword, sending a sheering torrent of energy rushing towards the muse, who promptly evaded it. Landing on his tiny feet, Terriermuse _hmmphed_ at the author, as though disappointed.

"You _know_ I'm going to get involved if you harm him. You can't deviate from the script too much you know. There are rules to follow. Rules that you can only bend, but not bre…"

"Shut up!" interrupted Demon Dayz savagely. "You muses aren't as powerful as you think you are! You may have caught me off guard during our fight in the tunnels, but I've been working on a little present ever since. The line of code that's been hovering around my sword? _That's_ your one weakness. The editorial process! The second-draft! Bit by bit, I'm overwriting the previous scenes and characters, but I still need the script to detach itself from that OC there for it to work to its full potential! If you get in my way…"

"Is that a threat?" demanded Terriermuse, drawing himself up to his full height, as small as it was. Demon Dayz gaze darkened and he tightened his grip on his swords.

"No. A promise."

_This is so cliché,_ thought Ryan.

_"Cliché ain't bad though,"_ spoke up Daisuke from the air around him. _Especially since, as long as they're arguing and fighting, the more time we get for the other dudes to get here on time. If the muse wants to mix it up with him, I say let 'em. He's got the firepower to back him up, remember?"_

_ Yeah…except the author has the same firepower and less of a desire to hold back…remember?_

As if to prove the point, Demon Dayz slashed his swords in wide arcs, releasing waves of energy that tore up the ground, digging trenches as they raced relentlessly on their path towards the muse and the OC that stood behind him. Puffing out his chest, Terriermuse drew in a deep breath and released a massive, emerald blast that impacted with Demon Dayz attack. A powerful explosion rent the air as the two attacks canceled each other out. Terriermuse struggled to stand his ground, but his tiny body was quickly blown backwards. Seeing this, Ryan quickly reached out and caught hold of him in his arms.

"Gotcha!" Ryan exclaimed over the crackling of the blazing fire in front of him.

"Great," wheezed Terriermuse, catching his breath. "I don't suppose I got him, did I?"

A massive sword surged from out of the billowing flames before either of them could react. Ryan felt something jerk in his body while at the same time Terriermuse gasped. Sticking out of the muse's chest was the hilt of Demon Dayz's sword. Ryan raised an eyebrow at it, trying to figure out what was going on when suddenly pain erupted from his waist. The moments that followed were perhaps the longest, and shortest, that he ever experienced.

Situated at an angle was indeed Demon Dayz's sword, sprouting out of what passed for the remains of Terriermuse's body, but the blade continued onwards. Ryan heard a distinctive thud below the massive blade that had shorn through his waist, and a searing pain froze every muscle above it.

"Ah…ah…" Ryan tried to speak, but nothing save for a series of broken sounds would emerge from his mouth. Demon Dayz emerged from the smoke and fire, completely unscathed by their touch. A smug smile drew itself upon his features.

"Now to finish the job," he said. "Hope you're ready to be rewritten…or rather, 'written out.'"

White data slowly began to creep out of the blade and crawl their way up Ryan and Terriermuse's bodies. Ryan felt his breath shudder as the remains of his strength began to give out on him and his vision began to darken.

_This is…erasure,_ were his thoughts as the light encapsulated him. It felt as though he were disappearing. The weight of his arms and the pressure of steel beneath him were swiftly vanishing. A part of him cried out against it, rose up to fight the process. Alas, while the spirit was more than willing the body was simply lacking, and what remained of it was being overwhelmed by the sheer force of the editing that was being done to his character. Against his will, his eyes began to slide shut, being replaced with nothing but an unending whiteness…

_…Not fair…_

_ "Now, now…whoever gave you permission to take things this far?"_

Ryan's eyes snapped open as breath and…and _feeling_ surged through his body with reinvigorated force. Blinking he looked down to see the sword that had just scant seconds ago bisected him disintegrating before his very eyes. In addition to that, his lower torso was back to where it should have been, without so much as a sign that it had at all been separated from his upper half.

"Wha…?" he began before a powerful wind blew at him. Staggering backwards, Ryan steadied himself and looked up.

He blinked again.

Four, long, spindly arms flexed themselves, as though eager for the battle that was sure to follow. Dark skin pulsated beneath a burning field of blue and gold energy shaped like a living, dragonic creature in its own right. It almost seemed to move independently of the main body it was attached to.

Ryan blinked again, his mouth opening slightly. Demon Dayz likewise looked more than a little taken aback, though whether from the creature's sudden, unexpected appearance, or from the pair of massive energy cannons that were sitting atop its shoulders. Twin suns glowed within their depths, illuminating the darkness that lay within them. With an electric hum, the cannons swiveled around and took aim at the author.

"M-Milleniummon," he stammered, for once sounding uncertain.

"That's right," said Ryo, materializing out of thin air. "It's time that we finished this fight and rescued all of our friends. Milleniummon?"

_"With pleasure,"_ boomed the dark digital god as the light in his cannons burned all the more brightly before firing.

**"Dimension Destroyer!"

* * *

**

6


	67. Chapter 67

Disclaimer:

The Four Seasons

Chapter: 66

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen

**Coliseum Finish! Part: 2**

_Within the depths of the digital world, a plume of smoke rose into the air, signing the site of the crater-marked landscape where two contestants fought. On one side was a massive, dark creature, reminiscent of other creatures, but only vaguely, as though it had long since transitioned away from their forms. Misshapen with four, spindly arms, a glowing aura sitting astride its top, and a pair of massive cannons affixed to its back. On the other side was a smaller, roughly humanoid, but warrior dragon-like creature encased in armor, and behind him stood a teenage boy with desert-stained clothes, a red bandana wrapped loosely around his neck, and a metal gauntlet attached to his forearm. His crystal blue eyes focused on the larger creature towering over him and the warrior dragon, a razors edge focus taking in everything around him, looking for a way to win this battle._

_ In spite of his age, the boy had seen much battle, particularly against this creature. One could say that their battle was _timeless.

_"Do not fight me, Ryo," the much larger entity spoke, its voice carrying with it the sound of distant thunder. "Not this time, anyway."_

_ "Not fight you?" the boy scoffed. "What do you take me for, Milleniummon? An idiot"_

_ "No…I take you for being brainwashed. The world you are in now is not the world you knew. Nor is it the one you belong in. You have been…altered. I can return you to the way you were and revive your memories…"_

_ Ryo gritted his teeth, not believing his opponent for an instant. Their battle had been long and personal, stretching across time and space. No matter how many times he thought this one was defeated, he always came back, more powerful than ever, and always…_always_ fixated on him. From their first encounter, he always looked to have a psychological edge over the boy. Why should this time be any different? Especially this time, where he had been stalking him for weeks on end as some bizarre entity of static. Ryo chastised himself for not thinking about who it could have been rather than _what.

_ "Milleniummon…I'll tell you where you can stuff your offer…"_

_ Milleniummon's eyes narrowed dangerously._

_ "I see. Then I will have to reveal my full hand. I will no longer hold back. Your fate, and the fate of all the others, is too important for me to play nice with…"_

_ Lightning crackled around the demon-god's eyes and quickly expanded outwards in one vast wave that enveloped the entire area.

* * *

_

"H-How?" stammered Demon Dayz next to the smoking crater from where he had just been scant seconds ago, one arm visibly trembling as he took in the massive form of Milleniummon. His voice soon found greater strength, and he leaned forward to add emphasis to his words. _"How?!_ You're not supposed to be here! Your data…it was fractured by the Lord of Fantasy's D-Leter program! You're supposed to be integrated into this website! You're…"

_"…Not under your control,"_ sneered Milleniummon. _"Did you think one such as you could contain me? You were too confident."_

"That explains _nothing!"_ Demon Dayz shouted. "You were _integrated…!"_

_"Pieces of me, yes, but not all. I'm not at my full power. Pieces of me are still missing, and I intend to find them. When I do…"_ a malicious grin crossed Milleniummon's face and he took an earth-shattering step forwards. Demon Dayz shifted, trying to maintain his balance while putting up a brave front against the massive dark digital god. However, it was not easily accomplished. Everything—_everything_—had been greatly upset. This was not supposed to happen. The muse had been accounted for, but _Milleniummon?!_ He was supposed to be a part of not only the sites security system, but also what gave it its vitality and reality. True, there had been odd…_incidents_ that had been responsible for much of the recent problems with characters but to think that it would all amount to _this…_a confrontation with the most powerful of the assembled characters…

Demon Dayz was interrupted from his thoughts as Milleniummon fired another series of blasts at him from his cannons, forcing the author to jump out of the way. Slashing his swords in midair he strained to counterattack, sending waves of white energy surging towards his opponent. He doubted it would do any good, even with the editing code imbedded into it.

_On any other character it would work, but this guy…if we couldn't contain him even in his fractured state, a rewrite isn't going to so much as stop hi…_

Demon Dayz was again cut off abruptly from his thoughts as Milleniummon caught his energy slashes in one hand and quickly crushed them into his palm, grinding them and letting small sparkling bits of data to rise into the air. Snorting derisively, Milleniummon stretched out one arm and casually _flicked_ Demon Dayz out of the air and into the stadium seats. The seats exploded as the author impacted into them with tremendous force, eliciting a cry of pain from him. Milleniummon snorted again.

_"Ryo…see to the characters. I'll deal with the author."_

"You got it," nodded Ryo. With that, both Tamer and digimon, for what was perhaps the first time in their entire existence, united in a common cause, leapt into action. Milleniummon dashed forward, firing round after round of his _Dimension Destroyer_ attack as Demon Dayz crawled out from the wreckage of the stadium. Howling with rage the author-possessed Deva leapt into the air, raining an onslaught of energy waves upon the digital god, but not a single one of them did any good. Milleniummon's golden aura flashed, and a protective sphere materialized around him, easily deflecting the attacks and sending them off to the side where they carved trenches into the turf.

"This is going well," mused Terriermon from Henry's arms, a tired smirk on his face. Henry nodded in agreement as Ryo approached him.

"Hey! You guys okay?"

"Oh, sure. Nothing like getting your arms chopped off to start your day… _How do you think I feel?!"_

"If he can shout this loud, then I guess he's fine," grinned Ryo in relief. "What about you, Henry?"

Henry could only shake his head in bewilderment. This sudden turn of events was a welcome one, and he had to admit that he felt relieved that the situation looked to be getting better. Still, that didn't change the fact that mere moments ago they were on the very edge of defeat.

"Hey," urged Terriermon from his spot in Henry's arms. "Henry. Hellooo…Earth to Henry."

"Huh?" Henry started as he snapped back to reality. "What?"

"Ryo was askin' you how you were doing? You kinda zoned out there for a second…"

"Sorry," said Henry, forcing an embarrassed grin on his face. "Guess I'm a little bit startled. I'm okay, though Terriermon could use a boost."  
"No problem," said Ryo, forking the half-Chinese Tamer a Recharge card from his deck. Henry gratefully accepted it and swiped it through his D-Arc, restoring his partner's power. Ryo then turned his attention to Ryan who, still carrying Terriermuse, was watching Milleniummon's battle with a dazed expression.

"Hey," Ryo urged, shaking the OC's shoulder lightly to get his attention. "You okay?"

"Uh…" Ryan blinked, his mind feeling strangely clouded. "…I think I got separated from my waist for a few seconds back there, but…" Ryan glanced down at himself before finally shrugging. "…It doesn't seem to be a problem now. I'm a little worried about this muse guy though." His mind began to pick up its pace now. The fog lifting, Ryan gestured with his arms, indicating Terriermuse. The diminutive dog-bunny-muse lay limply in his arms, a blank look in his eyes.

"What happened to him?" asked Ryo, concerned. The rabbit-muse was not moving, or even looking as though he registered his surroundings. He might as well have been a rag for all intents and purposes.

"We were both hit by Demon Dayz's attack," replied Ryan worriedly. "It…um…it went right through us, but somehow we returned to normal, except…well…"

Ryo nodded. Unlike the other Canon Characters, his memories of the true reality had been completely and fully restored, and as such he better understood the nature of muses and characters.

_This isn't good. If it weren't for this guy, I would have thought that Milleniummon had done something to fix them when we showed up. His very presence tends to distort and alter reality around him. If that were the case though, this little guy would be all right. At least he _should_ be all right, but since he's not…_

Ryo's thoughts broke off when a roar erupted from Milleniummon. He spun around, worry rapidly worming its way through him. Digimon of any kind or strength roaring wasn't anything new to him, but long experience had taught him to detect the variations within that needed interpretation. One of the two most common ones was the one that signaled their intent to attack anything that so much as moved and happened to be in their line of sight. The second one involved pain.

And a roar of pain coming from Milleniummon was _definitely_ not something that could at all be considered a good thing.

* * *

Ryo was not alone in this assessment. Rika, Richoemon, and Tapirmon, coupled with Takato and Guilmon, whom they had met at the main entrance, vaulted over guardrails and into the stadium. The two Tamers eyes widened at the site in front of them as they took stock of the situation.

"I…don't believe it…" breathed Takato, rubbing one eye to make sure that he wasn't just seeing things.

_This isn't good,_ thought Rika.

* * *

Demon Dayz struggled to his feet, growling a fearsome number of curses under his breath as he used one sword to maintain his already precarious balance.

"You haven't won," he spat at the Mega, data flying from his lips. Milleniummon's shadow fell over him as the digital god chuckled.

_"Oh? It looks as though I have to me. You're standing there, broken, battered…out powered. Even at my weakest I am more than a match for you."_ Milleniummon's eyes glowed with a burning golden light that matched the cannons as they charged up another _Dimension Destroyer_ attack. He did not look in the least bit concerned, a stark contrast to Demon Dayz's appearance, in spite of his words.

"You forget," Demon Dayz said carefully, "I…am…an _author!"_

Raising his sword towards the sky, white light tore free from the blade and rocketed upwards. Milleniummon watched it go, a look of interest on his face. As he watched, clouds began to circle around the central area where the beam of light went, and a black, crimson lined portal began to materialize. Electricity leapt around its edges. Milleniummon frowned, puzzled by this development.

_What is he planning?_ He wondered. No sooner did the thought finish a searing sensation ripped through his mind. His eyes shot down at Demon Dayz in surprise.

_"You _didn't…!"

"Did," Demon Dayz replied succinctly, a triumphant smirk appearing on his face at the precise moment that a mountain of red cables and steel scythes emerged from the portal in the sky. The author turned his face up towards the blood-stained sky. _"D-Reaper! Descend! It is time to bring this story to its conclusion!"_

A scythe swung down from the mass of cables and tore through Milleniummon's defenses with frightening ease, imbedding itself into his body, sending data flying through the air. Milleniummon screamed as the D-Reaper programs all-consuming data spread its way through his body like wildfire.

Demon Dayz's laughter echoed upon the air, beating in time with Milleniummon's howls.

* * *

"This isn't good," said Richoemon aloud as the D-Reaper ripped its scythe free from Milleniummon and let loose a powerful roar. Next to him, Rika's hands were curled into tense fists.

"You can say that again," replied Rika, her eyes set in a hard line. "I remember that thing. There's no way that we can beat it. Not unless we can go Mega and Takato can go Crimson Mode."

"Huh? I can do what now?" asked Takato, but Rika waved him off.

"Worry about _that_ thing now," she told him. Takato nodded.

"Yeah. For some reason…I get the feeling that I've seen it before."

"Me too, Takato," growled Guilmon, crouching low to the ground, his pupils turned to slits.

Rika scowled. "I'm willing to bet that this was the big bad from our series. This is going to be tough."

"If we beat it before, then we can do it again, right?" asked Takato, his eyes taking on a determined line to them. In the space of one heartbeat, his hands dropped to his D-Arc and cards. Lightning flashed as he slashed a blue card through his digivice's slot. Guilmon dashed forward as energy surged through his being, causing him to grow and transform. White hair sprung free from his scalp as his body lengthened and bulged to tremendous proportions. Metallic armor materialized around his chest and arms and jaw. Two, massive, axe-like blades ripped free from his armored arms, glinting dangerously. The bright glow that had enveloped him during his transformation died down, and steam rushed free from his nose as he snarled.

**"Guilmon…Matrix digivolve tooo…WarGrowlmon!"**

His transformation complete, twin engines leapt up from his back and fired. WarGrowlmon plowed forward across the stadium, crimson energy gathering around his blades. Demon Dayz, who had been gloating over the fallen form of Milleniummon, didn't see him coming until his shadow fell over him.

"Oh shi—!" was all the author-possessed Deva was able to get out before he leapt away from the massive, hazard-marked dragon. Concrete flew through the air as WarGrowlmon drove his arm blades into the spectator area. Spinning on a dime, the crimson war-machine's golden eyes tracked the black form of Demon Dayz as he vaulted through the air and landed deftly in the turf below. Demon Dayz's remaining blade flickered white as he drew upon the editing data stored within. WarGrowlmon eyed it warily. Although he didn't know how dangerous the weapon now was to him, he didn't need to be told to steer clear of it.

Red energy swirled around the cannons centered on his chest just above the hazard symbol emblazoned upon it. Turning, WarGrowlmon took aim.

**"Atomic…BLASTER!!!"**

Two crimson energy beams shot outwards, tearing towards their target with enough force to shatter a mountain. However, before they could even reach their target, a wall of red cables shot out from the sky and imbedded themselves in the ground, taking the attack. Demon Dayz grinned as the attack tapered off.

"Now..._now _for round two," he grinned, swishing his sword through the air. The cables parted away from the author and a loud roar resounded through the air. Scythes rained down into the stadium, affixing themselves like anchors into the turf. Above the stadium, the faceless mass of cables and scythes began to pour downwards. Below, Milleniummon pulled himself to his feet, the glowing aura on his back flickering.

_"Damnation…"_ he growled, power building up in his main cannons. **"Dimension Destroyer!"** The digital god roared as he let loose round after round of energy blasts upon the relentless program. The D-Reaper howled as the attacks struck home, melting off whole chunks of its body with each shot. Scythe arms shot out and dug into Milleniummon's golden aura and sheered into his energy cannons. A surge of energy shot through the cable, causing one cannon to detonate. Toppling to the ground, Milleniummon caught himself with his arms and gritted his fangs. His energy aura was flickering in and out of visibility uncontrollably now.

_Still…too weak. This battle is starting to test my strength to its limits. If something can't be done soon, I'm afraid our story will be over before too long…_

The ground shook as part of the D-Reaper crushed down into reality. Its head swiveled around towards the digital god, and cables tipped with scythe blades rose into the air like snakes. With a flash they swung through the air, aiming towards Milleniummon's face.

* * *

Rika's violet eyes flashed as they swung one direction to the next. The tension hung thick in the air as the battle raged back and forth, becoming increasingly lopsided. Something had to be done, and she was getting sick of sitting on the sidelines.

_This is supposed to be the day that Renamon digivolves to Taomon, right? It may not be much compared to Sakuyamon, but it should change things up a bit._

"Renamon!" Rika called out, quickly spying an unmoving form of golden fur. Fear leapt into her chest and she dashed forward without thinking, ignoring the battle that rampaged around her. Milleniummon's roar, the D-Reaper's triumphant howl…they were all gone to her as she raced across the battlefield towards her partner.

* * *

"You know…" began Ryan irritably, glaring at the Cable Reaper entity as it began to force itself down into the real world. "…This would be a whole lot easier if this story wasn't trying to psychologically damage us with that thing." A small shudder ran the length of his body as the creature's inhuman roar shook him to the core of his character. "It's bad enough that this we have to keep out from being underfoot in a kaiju fight."

"…At least that's _all_ you have to do," complained a blue scaled reptile as he approached. Ryan's eyes widened in surprise.

"Veemon!"

The blue dragon sighed and rolled his eyes.

"It's _V-…_ Oh, why am I even bothering? Glad to see that you _finally _remembered me."

"Ah…!" Ryan flushed and looked away, ashamed. "Sorry…"

V-Mon shrugged and massaged his bruised shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I saw you and the muse get skewered. What's going on? Is that the Cable Reaper from the D-Reaper thing?"

"You got it," said Ryo. "We're in a bit of a jam here because of that. If we can just get the muse to wake up…"

_"I don't think that's going to happen, buds,"_ said Daisuke's voice from thin air. _"I've been trying to get in his head and there's nothing there. It's like he's…I don't know. Gone."_

"Jeez…" mused Ryan, scratching his head. "I knew Terriermon wasn't playing with a full deck, but I didn't think his muse counterpart would take after him this much."

"Hey!" exclaimed Terriermon angrily.

_"He's quiet, dude. I don't think that counts as 'taking after him.'"_

"Point."

"I don't know what's wrong with him," said Ryo, exasperation evident in his voice. "But we can't stick around to find out. This place is getting to be too dangerous…"

"Yes. Yes it is."

"Shit."

All characters turned as a shadow fell over them. Towering over them was the form of Demon Dayz, battered, bruised, but a triumphant smirk grew on his face all the same.

"This is the end of the line for all of you," the author said, hefting his sword. "You fought well, but in the end this piece of work is mine. The story will be rewritten." White light emanated from the sword as it rose above his head. "Goodbye…"

Twin blasts of lightning struck the blade full on, sending it spinning out of Demon Dayz's hands and into the dirt behind him. Looking away from his burnt, smoldering hands, the author's gaze fell upon the sight of two angelic entities hovering in the air above the characters. One was female with wings of midnight black and narrowed eyes that promised reality to every threat they carried. The other was male with wings of white ivory and a soft, gentle face. Their hands were joined together, energy crackling around them.

"Wha…?" stammered Demon Dayz. "This _can't _be…"

Ryan's eyes widened in surprise. Those two angels…he _recognized _them! But how…?

"Sorry we're late," the two angels spoke in unison, their voices blending together harmoniously. "John sends his regrets that he cannot presently be here to assist in the battle. However he has sent us to fulfill this task in his stead."

Ryo Akiyama grinned and nodded.

"Erimon…Eromon…good to see you two again."

_"Yeah,"_ said Daisuke's voice. _"Care to lay the smack down on this guy for us? We're kinda in the middle of something here."_

In response, the two angels each raised a hand. Golden energy sparked at their fingertips as they took aim.

**"Celestial Radiance!"** they intoned together before a lance of pure golden lightning lanced out, blitzing a path towards Demon Dayz before striking home in the center of his chest, driving him backwards and into the dirt.

"Whoa…" Ryan breathed, relief flooding and surprise flooding him all at once. "This is…whoa… We might actually make it out of this in one piece after all."

"Oh ye of little faith," grinned Ryo. "You new OC's should know that main characters in a story always get saved at the last minute."

"Yeah, but wasn't that because the story demanded it?" asked Terriermon pointedly.

"You just had to go and ruin my point…"

"Be a nice rabbit," chuckled Henry, rapping his partner on the side of his head. He frowned a second later. "This doesn't really change much though."

"The battle's been turned a little bit," said Ryan, confused as to why Henry was being pessimistic.

"Has it?" asked Henry, looking around them. Ryan followed his gaze. Outside of the numerous craters that littered the landscape and the severe damage to the stadium, Ryan had to admit that he was rapidly finding himself in agreement with Henry's unspoken concerns. The fact was, there wasn't much of a reason to voice them. Guilmon, having reverted back to his Rookie form from WarGrowlmon, lay battered on the ground, having obviously lost his fight with Demon Dayz. Milleniummon, his gold and blue flame colored aura having now vanished, continued to struggle against the Cable Reaper as it slashed at him with its scythe arms. His remaining energy cannon hung limply off his back, attached only by a pair of wires. One arm blurred in and out of view. Takato was racing across the field towards his fallen partner, and further off, Rika was crouched down next to her unmoving partner, trying to rouse her into action.

_Erimon and Eromon are both just Champion level OC digimon that my author created and gave over to John,_ thought Ryan. _As powerful as they are…they're no match in a fight like this. Damn it! There's got to be something we can do!_

"RYAAAN!!!"

"Huh?" Blinking, the brown haired OC looked up to see his partner Richoemon, with Tapirmon following in close pursuit, racing towards him. "Richoemon! How…? Never mind!"

"Took the words right out of my mouth," said the orange-scaled reptile as he drew to a halt. "Things don't look good here. Are we going to fight?"

"Doesn't look like we have much of a choice," grimaced Ryan, glancing over at Demon Dayz as he pulled himself back to his feet. Smoke curled up from off his armor, but otherwise he looked completely unscathed. Ryan ran a hand through his hair. "Oh, man…what I wouldn't give to have an air strike right now…"

And right on cue, a series of rockets shrieked through the air and impacted with Demon Dayz, causing him to stagger in surprise at the unexpected attack.

"It sure seems to be that time for interruptions," observed Terriermon as all eyes were directed towards the direction where the rockets had come from. Search lights lit the stadium as a small fleet of helicopters hovered in the air, all weapons armed and ready to fire at a moment's notice.

"That would be Hypnos," said Henry, one hand raised to protect his eyes from the glaring light. Terriermon chuckled.

"They sure do like to make an entrance, don't they? Not that that helps them against the D-Reaper and 'Mr. A-godmon-am-I'…"

"Can't argue with you there." Henry's mind raced. This wasn't good. The situation was already badly out of control as it was. If the military opened fire…

"Do not worry yourself, young Henry," spoke up the two angels. "We can remedy this situation. It took us time to prepare, and John gave every last bit of his energy to ensure its success, but this will most definitely ensure that the danger you fear will not come to pass."

Clasping both of their hands together once more, Erimon and Eromon closed their eyes and began murmuring to themselves under their breath. Light surrounded them quickly and soon began to expand outwards until the entire stadium was engulfed in the light.

_"Memory reinitializing…complete,"_ they intoned, and almost as soon as it appeared, the light vanished. Demon Dayz gazed at the assembled crowd, humans, helicopters, and digimon alike. Growling under his breath, he waited. No one seemed to be moving. This was his chance. Looking over at his sword he prepared to launch himself towards it…

A red-cabled scythe arm stabbed out in front of him, slicing a long, thin trench into the ground. Demon Dayz gasped and jumped backwards reflexively. Following the scythe, he found himself staring up at the Cable Reaper as it towered over him. As he watched, its faceless head transformed, taking on an appearance that was all too familiar to him. Jeri-Reaper stared back, eyes wide and a wide, gaping wound of a mouth stretched out in a thin smile.

_"Bad fics,"_ it intoned without emotion in its voice, _"should be deleted."_

_ Uh oh…

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_

A/N: I originally wanted to finish up this arc with this chapter, but as it kept getting larger and larger, I decided to break it up into two (hopefully two) smaller chapters. A brief word on Erimon and Eromon. For those unfamiliar with my work, they previously debuted in my fic 'Unbroken Hearts', and a reviewer who helped me with the design of Eromon asked if he could use them. I figured I'd translate that into this fic as well. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. 'Till next time.

-Crazyeight

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